Cemitério de Agramonte

Whilst cemeteries might not make it onto most bucket lists, the Cemitério de Agramonte in Boavista is well worth a visit. Originally built in 1855 to hold the victims of a cholera epidemic, this was Porto's second public cemetery but it soon morphed into something far grander.

In the 1870s a chapel was built within the cemetery by Gustavo Adolfo Gonçalves e Sousa. This was enlarged in 1906 under the direction of Architect José Marques da Silva. Frescos of Byzantine inspiration  by Italian painter Silvestro Silvestri were added to the interior.

The chapel alone is worth a visit but it is the elaborate family mausoleums and numerous sculptures by the likes of Teixeira Lopes and Soares dos Reis that really make this a place of beauty, albeit with something of a melancholy air.

Agramonte cemetery is the resting place of a number of eminent figures from the world of  Portuguese art and literature such as António Carneiro, Guilhermina Suggia, Emílio Biel and Tomás Soller.