In March 1973, the then owner Afonso Pinto de Magalhães opened the Hotel Dom Henrique Downtown. One of the few independent hotels in the city, this is a landmark of 20th century hotel architecture, marking the silhouette of Porto’s historic center with singular distinction.
The first high-rise construction in reinforced concrete, the building bears the signature of the illustrious architects Pádua Ramos and Carlos Loureiro. It is an exemplary building which, despite its 18 floors, blends into the urban fabric thanks to the elegance of its elevations. Owned by the same family from the start, its distinctive, autonomous management is the guarantee of a strong, emotional and continually enhanced identity. In this context, it has been renovated over time, with the aim of always offering a service of the highest quality.
Interventions over time have sublimated the usual criteria and values: to offer comfort and safety in elegantly designed spaces; to provide an exemplary service in terms of efficiency and attention to each client.
In a hotel with a history, the continual feeling of debut…
Recognized for the willful character of its population – driven by strong passions and convictions – the city marks the foundations of the Portuguese Discoveries.
It was in Porto that Infante Dom Henrique, the Navigator was born in 1394.
The son of King D. João I, he was the great initiator of overseas expansion, a unique campaign that would forever change the way the world was conceived.
He was the main driving force behind Portuguese expansion, the so-called Portuguese Discoveries. In 1414, he convinced his father to mount the campaign to conquer Ceuta, on the North African coast near the Strait of Gibraltar. The city was conquered in August 1415, giving the kingdom of Portugal control of the maritime trade routes between the Atlantic and the Levant. On that occasion he was knighted and given the titles of Lord of Covilhã and Duke of Viseu.
He was also a trustee of the Order of Christ.
After the conquest of Ceuta, he retired to Lagos, where he led expeditions to the Atlantic. He surrounded himself with Portuguese, Majorcan, Genoese and Venetian scholars and navigators.
During his lifetime, the islands of the Atlantic were rediscovered, which were already known on maps from the 14th century: the archipelagos of Madeira and the Azores. He was responsible for the settlement and exploration of the islands.