Tabuaço

“The best of the Douro is right here.”

Tabuaço is an ancient Portuguese town in the northern region of the district of Viseu. It is also a sub-region of the Douro Valley, with around 1700 inhabitants. Based here are the civil headquarters of a municipality made up of 13 towns which occupy a total area of 133.86 km² and a population of 6350.

The origins of Tabuaço date back several centuries, when the local inhabitants who originally settled there took on civil administrative responsibilities and there are many local ruins and working instruments which are still visible in the town today, such as ceramic vestiges and primitive stone tanks where they used to make olive oil and wine.

The distance between Tabuaço and Pinhão is only 15 km, around 25 minutes by car.

What to visit?

Get to know two churches dating from the twelfth century and discover the Cabeço das Pombas, an archaeological site with rock engravings from the Bronze Age

Matriz de Barcos Church

Igreja Matriz de Barcos is also known as ‘Nossa Senhora da Assunção’ Church and it is located in the town of Barcos.

The Church was built in the 12th Century although it underwent several alterations and reconstructions in the 14th, 17th, and 20th Centuries. Its architecture reflects religious buildings from those periods with Romanesque, Gothic, Late Renaissance and Barroque styles.

General Information:
Largo da Colegiada, 5120 Barcos, Tabuaço
São Pedro das Águias Church

São Pedro das Águias Church is an example of a temple from the Romanesque period, built in the middle of the 12th Century.

It beholds an ornate arch supported on double columns with decorative crowns and crafted imposts. Its main exterior front is only a short distance from the rocky mass where it was built into the slope. Animal carvings above the door symbolise the temple guards watching over its holy interior.

General Information:
EN 1116 – 5120 Granjinha, Tabuaço
Cabeço das Pombas

Situated on a granite outcrop in the parish of Pinheiros, the ancient rock engravings of Cabeço das Pombas are of great importance from both a religious and artistic standpoint. They claim to have been created in the Bronze Age, probably associated with ceremonial gatherings.

The figures which are drawn in groups into the rock were engraved at different times, the oldest being the central branch-shaped form.

General Information:
Avenida António Silva, 5120-284 Pinheiros, Tabuaço
W: https://www.guiadacidade.pt/pt/poi-gravuras-rupestres-do-cabeco-das-pombas-20938