Stand facing the two churches and look for the gap between them. That narrow strip with a door and a few tiny windows is not a wall: it is a house, barely more than a metre wide, said to be the narrowest in Porto.

1Two churches, two communities

The church on the left, the Carmelitas, is the older one: it belonged to a convent of Discalced Carmelite nuns and was built in the 17th century. The one on the right, the Carmo church, was built between 1756 and 1768 by the Third Order of Carmel to a design by José Figueiredo Seixas.

2Why a house in between?

The most solid explanation is a regulation: at the time, two churches were not allowed to share a wall, and the house solved the problem. But the version everyone tells is different, and more romantic.

According to tradition, the house was put between them so that nuns and friars could have no contact at all.

Today the house can be visited inside as part of the paid tour of the Carmo church. From outside, you just need to know where to look.

3What to look for

  • The door and the tiny windows between the two façades.
  • The tile panel on the side of the Carmo church, from 1912, designed by Silvestre Silvestri and painted by Carlos Branco: it tells the founding of the Carmelite Order.
  • The contrast in styles between the restrained Carmelitas and the Rococo exuberance of Carmo.

Documented

The Carmo church was built between 1756 and 1768 next to the Carmelitas church; between them stands a narrow house, one to one and a half metres wide depending on the source.

Oral tradition

That the house was built to keep nuns and friars apart is popular tradition; the documented explanation points to a ban on two churches sharing a wall.

Sources and credits

Venerável Ordem Terceira de Nossa Senhora do Carmo («Carmo» visitor route); Direção-Geral do Património Cultural, national monument since 2013; Visit Porto, Carmo and Carmelitas church entries.

Photos:

  • The Carmelitas and Carmo churches, with the narrow house between them: Dale Cruse, CC BY 4.0.

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