Rua D. João de Castro- 210- 4150-417 Porto
The Serralves Foundation is, not only the main centre of contemporary art of Portugal but also architecturally speaking of singular importance. The National Museum of Contemporary Art, work of the architect Alvaro Siza, and the Palace of Serralves share prominence. The latter is unique for its art-decó style and its late date of construction.
Also, the garden that surrounds the house, work of the landscape designer Jaques Gréber, is inn the art-decó style with straight lines, hedges trimmed into different shapes, flowerbeds and wide avenues of tall chesnut treess. Moving away from the house, descending terraces and following a long canal, we arrive at a romantic lake surrounded by a tighty packed grove. It is the most informal part and the one that leads to a typical farm of the 19th Century, the Quinta de Mata-Sete, which includes an orchard and a garden of aromatic plants.
This park as an extension of the museum is, at the same time, an open-air exhibition which manages to perfectly combine art and nature in the way its creators aspired to achieve.
