Foral do Porto is being prepared for exhibition at Town Hall

The noble hall of the Town Hall is preparing to receive the oldest document of the Municipal Archive of Porto: the Foral of the city, dated 1123. A 900-year-old testimony now celebrated by the Porto City Council, with an exhibition at the Paços do Concelho (Town Hall), on October 27 and 28, along with the Foral Manuelino, from 1517.

A foral is "a letter of dominion of someone (king, bishop, among others) over a group, in this case a local lord", explains historian Francisco Ribeiro da Silva. A deep connoisseur of the city's history says that, in the case of the Porto Foral, "it sets certain financial conditions to exercise the economy. For example, for someone who wanted to settle in Porto, the bishop gave the space to make the house, in return, the beneficiary gave the prelate a salary (a certain amount per year)."

When, in 1123, Bishop Hugo gave Porto its first Foral, the autonomy of the Porto borough and the decisive role in the foundation of the country was recognized. And what Porto was that? "It was a small city, from the Sé, Pena Ventosa area, with connection to the river, always important, passing through spaces of Campanhã, Lapa, Ramada Alta, Miragaia", reveals the university professor, remembering that the letter of donation to D. Hugo, by D. Teresa (mother of D. Afonso Henriques), in 1120, already defined a large part of these territories.

A document with a liberal and innovative character

"The fact that there is a Foral is a sign that Porto was emerging", underlines Francisco Ribeiro da Silva, adding: "D. Hugo tried to attract residents to the city. And if, later, they wanted to get out of here, they could sell the houses. Its value was not defined by the bishop but by a group of two, three men, chosen to say what the value was, always respected."

For this reason, and for the historian, "there are notes of liberalism in the charter. For example, inviolability at home is already guaranteed. If I lived here and owed something, the bailiff (inspector of the bishop) could not come to my house without justification. If he had to go, he would be accompanied by two, three people, as witnesses".

“Another guarantee is that people had some freedom. The bishop offered a chance to plant wines outside the city's perimeter. Something was paid for the land (a quarter of its value) and only when the vineyard began to produce would something be given to the bishop", he adds.

For Francisco Ribeiro da Silva, "the Foral states that Porto is already beginning to be a city, that D. Hugo is bishop of a city that already knows that the future king is already in Lisbon". "Here begins an autonomy, some desire to be different, to assert oneself", he concludes.

Concerns about the conservation of the Foral

For the exhibition at Town Hall, the techniques of the Municipal Archive of Porto follow the standards and methodologies of conservation and restoration of documentary assets. "We must always take into account the material and immaterial part of the object. These documents tell a lot about the history of the city", says Joana Guerreiro, stressing that "[the Foral do Porto] has reached our days and this reflects the care that has always been taken to preserve its memory".

The conservation and restoration technique of the Municipal Archive explains that interventions "are never evasive". “We must be careful to keep all the time stamps and make sure they are stable. Mediating both sides: stabilizing for their preservation, but also not erasing the marks of time and memories that they can transmit to us", he adds.

The daily monitoring (for example, temperature and humidity values) of the spaces where the documents are located will also be done, during these days, in the Town Hall. "During the two days of exposure, we will always keep track of the values, so that the document does not undergo major changes", confesses Joana Guerreiro.

"We are very pleased that the city has access to these documents, it is part of our work to disseminate them, but we always have to ensure that the conditions of stability of the documents are also preserved", he concludes.

The Foral do Porto is presented at the Town Hall on the 27th and 28th, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. (except on the 27th, between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., which will be closed). Entry is free of charge.