Pousada de Viseu History:
The setting for the Pousada de Viseu is the former São Teotónio Hospital, which was originally opened in 1842.
Atop the entrance to this majestic, imposing 18th century building, three statues, Faith, Hope and Charity, stand looking attentively out over the fabulous scenery of the old city (the name given to the oldest part of the city, located between the cathedral (Sé) and the Cava do Viriato.
The hospital’s first stone was laid by Bishop D. Francisco Moreira Pereira de Azevedo on the 29th of March 1793.
In 1799, D. Maria I obliged every county in the former district of Viseu to pay a contribution of one real for every quintilho of wine or arrátel of meat towards the cost of building the hospital.
The first patients were admitted to the hospital in 1842, the same year in which the iron entrance gateway bearing the date was made.
Work to convert the former hospital into what is now the Pousada de Viseu began in 2007.