Santo Tirso

It lies just 15 minutes from Oporto, Braga and Guimarães. Very industrialised, the Municipality of Santo Tirso is also rich in parks and gardens, some of them embellished with remarkable sculptures of contemporary art. Santo Tirso invites you to explore its diverse landscape, to discover the contrast between heritage and modernity, its rich gastronomy, its great artisan traditions and a long list of attributes that make this northern municipality a great place to visit.

We begin our expedition with the International Museum of Contemporary Sculpture of Santo Tirso, which came about following a proposal, made in 1990 by the sculptor Alberto Carneiro to the municipality of Santo Tirso, to hold a series of sculpture symposiums, which has underlying themes associated with contemporary art. After holding four symposiums, in 1996 the Municipal Council approved the creation of the museum. Faced with the need to do something about the Abade Pedrosa Municipal Museum, housed within the Monastery of Santo Tirso, and also needing to build the new museum, the council decided to commission these projects from architects Eduardo Souto de Moura and Álvaro Siza Vieira, bringing them together in the same place. The intervention focused on restoring the essence of the monastery and its context and on the construction of a new structure, both accessible via the same atrium. MIECST is now a benchmark venue in the international art scene and includes 55 sculptures by nationally and internationally renowned artists in the city’s public spaces and gardens.
We then discover the Fábrica de Santo Thyrso (Santo Thyrso Factory), founded in 1898 and closed in 1990. Having been one of the most iconic textile factories in the Ave Valley, it was seen as a symbol of progress, driving economic growth and promoting important social transformations. Located on the left bank of the River Ave, the factory is an inescapable reference point in the collective memory of Santo Tirso. When, in 1992, the municipality decided to move forward with an Ave River Banks Urbanisation Plan, the Santo Thyrso Factory was included in the project. Nowadays, it is a revitalized, cultural and creative neighbourhood, where, in addition to two incubators, thus fostering the creation of new industries and synergies, it has a commercial, innovative and dynamic aspect to it. Honouring and commending the memory of its past, it has a vision of the future.
Boasting more than 150 hectares and located in Água Longa, Vale Pisão-Nature Resort is a luxury residential complex whose great attraction is its golf course. The development began to take shape in 1999, although the golf course was only officially opened ten years later. The golf course is played over nine holes of varying degrees of difficulty, complemented by an academy, enjoying all you could ever need to play this sport. The layout of the course mirrors the natural aesthetics of the geographical area, blending into the natural landscape of the valley and taking advantage of the slopes, vegetation and water ways. You can thus enjoy a varied and balanced game with interesting challenges.
The lush trees and vegetation of the D. Maria II Park, located in the heart of the city, is an excellent spot in which to spend enjoyable moments, used daily by local residents. Aware of this importance, in 1998 the Municipal Council embarked on a project to revitalize this space. In addition to infrastructure works, new areas were created, while the lake and the gazebo were renovated. The playground has been entirely refurbished. Alongside this work, the Municipal Council went ahead with the improvement works to the Tea House, a project from 1940. The D. Maria II Park was reopened to the public in 2001 and since that date has served as a venue for events and festivities. A water feature connecting the park to the adjacent gardens was also inaugurated in 2001.
To finish, the century-old Confeitaria Moura, in the center of Santo Tirso, which made the first ever Jesuítas pastries in Portugal. More than a hundred years later, the family continues to follow the recipe left by a Spanish pastry chef who had worked in a Jesuit convent in the Bilbao area. Although they are sold throughout Portugal, traditional and true jesuítas, whose recipe is a closely guarded secret, are those made in Santo Tirso, one of the symbols and highlights of the city.
This is probably the Portuguese city with the most works of art in the public space, but the charms of Santo Tirso are not confined to its prosperous cultural activity. This green municipality, which has the River Ave as its horizon, has managed to preserve the memory of the past. Traditions, fairs and religious festivals are still alive in the souls of its people, as well as its rich gastronomy and award-winning vinho verdes, which amaze both locals and visitors. The textile industry may not have the vigour it once had, but Santo Tirso has reinvented itself, innovated and made its presence felt, with its sights set firmly on the future.