A Capela de Nossa Senhora das Verdades — A recuperação integral do espaço. O retábulo, esplendor e glória

The small church, a listed monument in Porto’s Historical Centre, a World Heritage Site, located in Rua D. Hugo, at the back of the Porto Episcopal Palace, next to the Verdades Stairway, was in a poignant state of degradation and ruin for decades.The chapel, owned by the municipality and ceded to the Porto diocese in 1954, had long been closed to worship and the last documented restoration work dates back to 1968.In 2017, after a process of recovery and rehabilitation, it reopened to the public as a Pilgrim Reception Centre, as part of the inter­municipal project Valorização dos Caminhos de Santiago. Caminho Português da Costa (Valorisation of the St. James Ways. Portuguese Coastal Way), which applied to the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Norte 2020 funding line.This article aims to briefly highlight the significance and importance of this small temple located in the historic centre of Porto, which is owned by the municipality, analysing and documenting the conservation and restoration work that supported its structural and artistic rehabilitation, turning the space into a Welcome Centre for pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago. At the same time, the aim is to contextualise the work of the altarpiece within the artistic production of carving in Porto in the 17th and 18th centuries, contributing to the knowledge of the artists and artistic practices of that period.