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Guiding Architects, tour: Northern Spaces of Worship and Living: Old Foundations, New Meanings (Fig. 1)
Guiding Architects, tour: Northern Spaces of Worship and Living: Old Foundations, New Meanings (Fig. 2)
Guiding Architects, tour: Northern Spaces of Worship and Living: Old Foundations, New Meanings (Fig. 3)
Guiding Architects, tour: Northern Spaces of Worship and Living: Old Foundations, New Meanings (Fig. 4)
Guiding Architects, tour: Northern Spaces of Worship and Living: Old Foundations, New Meanings (Fig. 5)
Guiding Architects, tour: Northern Spaces of Worship and Living: Old Foundations, New Meanings (Fig. 6)
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Northern Spaces of Worship and Living: Old Foundations, New Meanings: Cristina Emília Silva (Thumbnail)
Cristina Emília Silva
Lisbon, Porto

Cristina Emília Silva holds a PhD in Architecture from the Faculty of Architecture, University of Porto (2016), and a degree in Architecture from the University of Coimbra (1999). Since 2006, she has co-authored projects at bau.uau arquitectura. A guest assistant professor and researcher at the Faculty of Architecture, she is the author of International Dissemination of Portuguese Architecture 1976–1988 and several articles. She also coordinates APJAR – Associação Pró-Arquitectura João Álvaro Rocha. Her work includes archiving, curating, editing and organising events on architecture. In 2004, she co-founded cultour, where much of this practice took shape.

Northern Spaces of Worship and Living: Old Foundations, New Meanings: João Paulo Correia (Thumbnail)
João Paulo Correia
Lisbon, Porto

João Paulo Correia, graduated in Industrial Engineering and Management in 1995. His professional work focuses on planning and managing municipal and metropolitan investment projects. He completed an MBA in Business Management at IEP and ESADE in 2001. He has collaborated in multidisciplinary teams developing urban and regional plans and regularly participates in institutional forums related to tourism. In 2004, together with Cristina Emília Silva and Maria da Conceição Melo, he founded the company Cultour.

Northern Spaces of Worship and Living: Old Foundations, New Meanings: Maria da Conceição Melo (Thumbnail)
Maria da Conceição Melo
Lisbon, Porto

Maria da Conceição Melo graduated in Architecture from the School of Fine Arts, University of Porto, in 1984, studying under Fernando Távora, Álvaro Siza and other Key figures of the Porto School. She holds a master’s degree from the Faculty of Architecture and Engineering of the University of Porto (1995) and works in planning and urban design. She was a visiting professor at the University of Minho’s School of Architecture. She served as President of the Northern Regional Section of the Order of Architects (2020–2023). In 2004 Melo co-founded cultour.

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Tour in Porto:
Northern Spaces of Worship and Living: Old Foundations, New Meanings

The northern region of Portugal is dotted with centuries-old granite buildings whose architecture has undergone continual transformation. Many structures once shaped by religious life,monasteries, chapels, and by noble households now welcome visitors as thoughtfully restored lodges and fine dining spaces. Some sites preserve spiritual functions, while others have shifted away from them and later embraced renewed forms of spirituality.

Architecture tours in this region highlight how these old stones were used to evolving needs, creating varied atmospheres and reinterpreted meanings of long-standing spaces. The journey becomes a contemporary kind of pilgrimage: it may start at an open-air chapel where a contemporary sculpture greets wayfarers, follow segments of the Way of Saint James, and end at a football stadium built embedded in a former quarry, where stone once extracted now frames a new communal experience.

Across the route, each site demonstrates how architecture offers insight into the ways people inhabit, adapt, and revalue these long-standing testimonies.

Photo credits: 1 Sérgio Jacques; 2 Santo Eduardo Di Miceli; 3 (large) Alexandre Delmar; 4 Luís Ferreira Alves; 5 Sérgio Jacques; 6  Luís Ferreira Alves

– Duration: Full-day tour
– Transport: Private bus
– Services: Experienced local architect as guide
– Languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese
– Group size: max. 20pax per guide

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Guiding Architects
Guiding Architects, tour: Northern Spaces of Worship and Living: Old Foundations, New Meanings (Fig. 7)
Guiding Architects, tour: Northern Spaces of Worship and Living: Old Foundations, New Meanings (Fig. 8)
Guiding Architects, tour: Northern Spaces of Worship and Living: Old Foundations, New Meanings (Fig. 9)
Guiding Architects, tour: Northern Spaces of Worship and Living: Old Foundations, New Meanings (Fig. 10)
Guiding Architects, tour: Northern Spaces of Worship and Living: Old Foundations, New Meanings (Fig. 11)
Guiding Architects, tour: Northern Spaces of Worship and Living: Old Foundations, New Meanings (Fig. 12)
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