D. Lopo de Almeida Hospital

D. Lopo de Almeida Hospital (1601-1803) was the first great hospital in old Porto’s city centre, existing from the  17th century until the transition for 19th century. Santa Casa da Misericórdia do Porto (the biggest care organisation, responsible for the healthcare of the city) decided to create a new hospital, accordingly to new health criteria and the necessity for it. It was built in memory of an  XVI donor, D. Lopo de Almeida, the chaplain of Filipe II of Spain (Filipe I of Portugal) and rich Portuguese nobleman, whose donation financed partially the first constructive phase. Situated on the corner of Flores and Caldeireiros Street, the hospital was built during a prolonged construction period until the beginning of the XVIII century by unknown authors, whose initial plans remain unknown. The original sources are descriptive texts – Tombos – regarding its location and dimension allowing the development of form studies by some investigators (Pina, Luís de (1957); Tasso de Sousa, N.; et all. 2023). Its composition has been debated between the presence of the cruciform structure, described by Manuel Pereira de Novais (1689), which had been denied by historians like Artur de Magalhães Basto (1964) and Ferrão Afonso (2004). Upon the study of Gonçalves e Souza survey (1857 ca.) cross the combined LiDAR and photogrammetric survey, done within Covher Project in 2022, we’ve been able to prove the remaining presence of the cruciform structure today. The present model is a form study of the cruciform structure at the 1857 survey.