The Archiepiscopal Palace of Braga is a Portuguese episcopal palace in civil parish of Braga (São José de São Lázaro e São João do Souto), in the municipality of the same name, in the northern district of Braga.
The Bishopric of Bracara was founded in 388 by Paternus, who became the first bishop of Braga. Officially, the archbishopric of Braga was founded in 1071, turning D. Pedro its first archbishop. Between 1096 and 1112, Count D. Henrique and Countess D. Teresa were the masters of Braga, leading in 1112 to a letter donating the city to the archbishops, instituting an ecclesiastical fiefdom, that would last to the 18th century. D. Maurício Burdino became the first ecclesiastical master of Braga.
The former court was constructed on an unleveled terrain in the historic centre of Braga. The building is addorsed to buildings along its eastern and western edge, with the cathedral of Braga and Church of the Misericórdia, to the southwest, and municipal hall and Fonte de Pelicano, to the west. In the northeast is the Garden of Santa Bárbara, on level ground, a geometric area delimited by shrubs and decorated with cedar topiaries. In the centre is an octagonal fountain, on four steps, with circular column surmounted by an image of Santa Barbara. Delimiting this patio are the ruins of a broken arcade pertaining to the medieval episcopal palace.
The Palace is a set of three different buildings with distinct characteristics and time periods. The irregular building is asymmetrical composition, consisting of three bodies, that are also irregularly designed and constructed in different epochs, that are addorsed and interconnected.
The medieval corp is associated with a rectangular garden patio oriented towards the Garden of Santa Bárbara, addorsed to the southern 15th century “U”-shaped wing and rectangular square, known as the Largo do Paço. At the junction of these in the west, is designated the Baroque Wing, oriented to the Largo do Município. This body is the most formal, with a three-register symmetrical structure with recessed central body and lateral wings. All unique buildings are of varying heights and covered in different roofing materials
