Museu Municipal Casa do Infante

Museu Municipal Casa do Infante stands in Porto’s Ribeira district, beside the Douro and among narrow streets and old warehouses. This medieval museum and archaeological site occupies a building first constructed in the early fourteenth century under King Afonso IV.

The building served as a customs house and mint, where officials registered and taxed arriving goods and produced coins for the kingdom. Archaeological excavations in the 1990s uncovered Roman foundations, mosaic floors and residential remains beneath the medieval structure. Inside, exhibitions bring together ceramics, coins, everyday objects, maps and documents from Porto’s Roman, medieval and modern development. Municipal archives trace the city’s administration, maritime trade, architecture and connections with England, the Douro Valley and other ports.

Several centuries remain visible at once: Roman floors lie below medieval walls, while later additions show how the building adapted to new uses. A lasting detail is the geometric pattern of the preserved Roman mosaics, still positioned where ancient residents once walked.