The origins of Évora come from a distant past, prior even to the Romanization. However, it is after the reconquest that witnessed the growth in urban and monumental terms, which will lead, in the transition of the century. XVI, to be consider the 2nd city in the country, almost permanent residence of the court and beloved resort of kings, nobles, artists and thinkers.

After the reconquest, its city space is precisely the same whether the Roman city or Muslim. This will from this original core, which initially will be your vital center that Evora will grow, pouring out of the primitive wall, with the consequent creation of suburbs, which later will become an integral part of it.

However, it is the area of the ancient Roman Forum and the Muslim fortress that will arise some of the most striking buildings in the city – the Cathedral, the original building of the County Hall and the Butcher installed on Roman temple, retrofitted for this purpose, as well as some of the oldest palaces of the local nobility.

But, with the expansion of the city at this stage of the Middle Ages largely overflowed its primitive limits – which is proven by the construction of a new circuit of walls in the XIV century, Evora will grow from about the early doors.

We may also add the construction of the Jewish quarter, occupying the urban framework a privileged position thanks to its leading role from an economic point of view, and the Moorish quarter, which stood in a peripheral inequivocante position, which was inconsistent with the economic and social exclusion, imposed on Moorish communities.

Demonstrating the vitality of this new area of ​​the city, the Royal Palace of St. Francisco, the real function symbol of Évora, will not be in the oldest area of ​​the city, but in the Franciscan convent area.

At the turn of the century. XV to XVI, the most characteristic feature in urban terms is the contrast between the temporal and spiritual power, in terms of spatial location. Faced with a distinctly religious center, marked by the buildings of the Cathedral and Bishop’s Palace, which will be reinforced in the second half of the XVI century, through the Palace of the Inquisition and the Inquisitor-Mor, located in the old city center of Évora. In parallel, a temporal power center, marked by the buildings of the Town Hall, Chain, Pousada Real dos Estáus-Real Inn Estaus, including even the new butcher shops located in the great square, in new town space.