You're standing in Liberdade Square, the open square at the foot of Porto's main boulevard.
Last reviewed 10 October 2026 · A three-minute read · 499 BC–1916
The short answer
Liberdade Square in Porto began as Praça Nova in 1718, when the Cathedral chapter of Porto gave up land outside the medieval walls for a new public space. It later saw political hangings, a republic proclaimed from its city hall balcony, and the building of Avenida dos Aliados in 1916.
"Avenida dos Aliados" in Porto, Portugal — 2007 · Nelson Rocha from Portugal · CC BY 2.0
1718 to 1788
A new square rose where the city walls stood
You're standing in Liberdade Square, the square that has worked as Porto's front room for three hundred years. Around you, banks and old hotel facades line the open ground, with the wide avenue running north from where you stand.
The square did not start here by accident. In 1718, the Cathedral chapter of Porto gave up land just outside the city's old medieval walls to create a new public space, called Praça Nova, or New Square. New streets were cut through the area at the same time, including one that still survives as Rua da Fábrica. The square sat where the walls themselves had once stood, between two old gates, the Porta de Carros and the Porta de Santo Elói.
Seventy years later, in 1788, a religious order called the Lóios tore down a stretch of that same medieval wall. They built a convent on the spot, its new Neoclassical front rising on the square's south side. That building still stands today, known now as the Palácio das Cardosas. It is the oldest building left on the square, and for two centuries it dominated this view before anything else around it was built.
1829
Monks watched liberals hanged below their windows
By the early 1800s the square carried the name Praça de D. Pedro IV, and it had become the stage for Porto's politics. During the Liberal Wars, a fight over who should rule Portugal, liberals were hanged here. The monks of the nearby Igreja dos Congregados watched the hangings and beheadings from their convent windows. Afterward, they celebrated with Port wine and cake.
1862 to 1866
A bronze king on horseback held the constitution
The square's centerpiece arrived a generation later. The French sculptor Anatole Calmels and the architect Joaquim da Costa Lima built a bronze equestrian statue of King Pedro IV, ten meters tall and cast from five tons of bronze. It shows Pedro IV on horseback, holding out the constitutional charter he had fought to protect. Reliefs on the column below show him handing his heart to Porto's leaders, and giving a flag to Tomás de Melo Breyner after landing at Mindelo to retake the country. The statue was inaugurated in October 1866. Portugal later named it a Property of Public Interest, in 1982.
1891
A balcony speech proclaimed a republic too early
On 31 January 1891, a crowd gathered outside the old city hall on the square's north side. A republican named Alves da Veiga stepped onto its balcony and declared Portugal a republic. He raised a red and green flag, the colors the country still flies today. The uprising did not hold, and the monarchy survived another nineteen years. But the square had shown, for one day, what Porto wanted.
early 1900s
The square's name changed when the monarchy fell
The monarchy fell for good across Portugal in October 1910, and the square's name changed with it. Praça de D. Pedro IV became Praça da Liberdade, Liberty Square, a name chosen to mark the new republican age. The king on his horse stayed standing at the center, his statue outliving the monarchy it once stood for.
1916
A neighbourhood came down to open an avenue
Six years later, the old city hall itself was gone. It had stood on the square's north side since 1819, but in 1916 the city tore it down to clear ground for something far bigger. Workers also leveled a tangle of smaller streets, including the old Rua do Laranjal. In their place rose Avenida dos Aliados, a wide boulevard running north from the square toward a new city hall, finished in 1920 with granite walls and a tall tower. The square you're standing in became the foot of that avenue, continuous with it, exactly as it still appears today.
1916 to now
Banks and a hotel replaced taverns and coffeehouses
Banks moved in around the same years. The buildings on the square's west and north sides today house a branch of the Banco de Portugal, old headquarters for Banco Lisboa & Açores, and insurance offices built in the 1920s. Where taverns and coffeehouses once drew in the city's politicians and journalists, bank counters and hotel lobbies now stand. The Palácio das Cardosas, the old Lóios convent on the south side, is an InterContinental hotel. Pedro IV still sits on his horse at the center of it all, constitution in hand, looking north up the avenue that replaced the building he once rode past.
Banks and the old convent-turned-hotel still ring the square, with Pedro IV on his horse at the center and the avenue running north from your feet.
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Between 1694 and 1703 the Congregation of São Filipe Nery altered their church project and added a convent building beside this spot, the oldest dated thing recorded this close to where you stand.
The Cabido da Sé do Porto gave up this land outside the old city walls in 1718, and the new Praça Nova, forerunner of today's Praça da Liberdade, took shape around it.
The grand bank and insurance buildings ringing the square, including the one just 18 meters from where you stand, are formally protected as part of the historic ensemble of Praça da Liberdade and Avenida dos Aliados.
During the Peninsular War, French and then Anglo-Portuguese forces fought the First and Second Battles of Porto in 1809, with fighting reaching this part of the city.
In 1829 the monks of Igreja dos Congregados, a short walk from here, watched from their windows as the Martyrs of Liberty were hanged and beheaded in the square below, then celebrated afterward.
During the Siege of Porto in 1832-33 the Congregados convent became a military hospital and army store, and the building took damage that later cost it its tower.
French sculptor Anatole Calmels cast the bronze equestrian statue of Pedro IV that was unveiled in the square in 1866, showing him gripping the liberal constitution he had defended in Portugal's civil war.
On 31 January 1891 Alves da Veiga proclaimed the Republic from the balcony of the Porto city council building overlooking this square, raising a red and green flag decades before the republic actually came.
In 1916 the Bairro do Laranjal, its streets and landmark buildings like the Palácio Monteiro Moreira, were demolished to open the new Avenida dos Aliados just north of here.
The old council building north of the square came down in 1916, replaced by the grand boulevard and new city hall that still anchor the view north from here.
The ground lay just outside Porto's medieval walls, between two old gates, the Porta de Carros and the Porta de Santo Elói, before the Cathedral chapter gave up the land in 1718 to create Praça Nova.
What happened at Liberdade Square in 1891?
On 31 January 1891 a republican named Alves da Veiga stepped onto the balcony of the old city hall overlooking the square and proclaimed Portugal a republic, raising a red and green flag. The uprising did not hold, and the monarchy lasted another nineteen years.
Who is the statue in the square?
The statue is King Pedro IV on horseback, cast in bronze by the French sculptor Anatole Calmels and unveiled in October 1866. It shows him holding the constitutional charter he had defended, with reliefs below depicting his fight for it.
Why is the square called Liberdade Square?
The square was renamed Praça da Liberdade after the monarchy fell for good in October 1910, replacing its old name, Praça de D. Pedro IV, to mark the new republican age.
What is the oldest building on the square?
The Palácio das Cardosas, on the square's south side, is the oldest building there. It was built as a convent front by the Lóios order in 1788 after they tore down a stretch of the old medieval wall, and it is now an InterContinental hotel.
What replaced the old city hall on the square?
The old city hall on the square's north side was demolished in 1916, along with a tangle of smaller streets, to make way for the wide Avenida dos Aliados and a new city hall completed in 1920.
