National Museum Soares dos Reis located in the ancient Carrancas Palace, in Porto, Portugal; Shutterstock ID 233117197; Your name (First / Last): Josh Vogel; GL account no.: 56530; Netsuite department name: Online Design; Full Product or Project name including edition: Digital Content/Sights

Shutterstock / saiko3p

Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis

Top choice in Miragaia


Porto's best art museum presents a stellar collection ranging from Neolithic carvings to Portugal’s take on modernism, all housed in the formidable Palácio das Carrancas.

Requisitioned by Napoleonic invaders, the neoclassical palace was abandoned so rapidly that the future Duke of Wellington found an unfinished banquet in the dining hall. Transformed into a museum of fine and decorative arts in 1940, its best works date from the 19th century, and include sculptures by António Teixeira Lopes and António Soares dos Reis – seek out the latter's famous O Desterrado (The Exiled), and the naturalistic paintings of Henrique Pousão and António Silva Porto.