A Celebration of Portugal’s Merchants

For centuries, Porto’s merchants and middle class competed with the Church for control of the city. Ironically, in 1841, Queen Maria II gave the merchants the land where the Convent of São Francisco once stood to build the Stock Exchange. Construction of the Stock Exchange began in 1840 and took over 70 years. It was a bold display of the merchant class’s power, ambition, and culture—often overlooked in Portugal. 

The project became a training ground for artisans, involving stonemasons, carvers, plasterers, painters, and tilers. The result is a stunning mix of styles, including neoclassical, Tuscan, English neo-Palladian, neo-Moorish, and Art Nouveau. The façade and grand staircases highlight Porto’s signature granite, while the vast courtyard—once a cloister—features modern iron and glass structures, similar to those in Porto’s iconic Palácio de Cristal and D. Maria Pia Bridge.