Serralves Park

The Serralves Park is one of the attractions of the Serralves Foundation, one of the main Portuguese cultural institutions and the most important one in Porto. The origin of the Serralves Park, which now has 18 hectares, dates back to 1923 when Carlos Alberto Cabral, second Count of Vizela, inherited the Quinta do Lordelo that was located at the time in the outskirts of Porto and was the summer residence of the family. Its history can be divided into three main periods: the garden of the late nineteenth century of the Quinta do Lordelo - probably by one of the designers of the city’s greenhouses, and inspired by Victorian models of the late 1800s, along with the Quinta do Mata-Sete that the Count expanded until the 1940s; the garden by Jacques Gréber for the Casa de Serralves; and the landscape of the Museum of Contemporary Art. After visiting the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris in 1925, the Count decided to invite the architect Jacques Gréber to design a new garden. Acquired by the Portuguese State in 1986, the Serralves Park opened to the public the following year. Its holdings of native and exotic trees and plants, include about 4000 specimens of trees, representing roughly 200 species and varieties. Serralves frequently organizes guided and thematic visits to the park.