Raio Palace

The Palace of Raio is a Baroque-era residence in the urbanized area of the municipality of Braga, in the civil parish of São José de São Lázaro. It is an example of the late Baroque, early Rococo style of decoration by Portuguese architect André Soares, notable for his influence in the northern Baroque movement.HistoryThe construction of this ornate palace was ordered by João Duarte de Faria, a knight of the Order of Christ, who was a rich merchant.The commission was given to André Soares in 1754–1755, an architect already famous in the Braga region for his artistic and engineering projects. Soares reformulate the style first introduced to Porto by Nasoni, basing his interpretations on French-German sketches, "one of the expressions more distinct and powerful of the European Rococo". His work is characterized by the monumental nature of its forms, and for his use of natural elements in the decorative sculptures that permeate the design including the shells, jars, wreaths and garlands. These elements show the influence of the Augsburg sketches, or the Frenchman Meissonier, among others. In the context of Portuguese art, André Soares was part of the end of the Baroque period, and beginning of the Rococo; his style used the structure of the Baroque, but the decorative style of the Rococo. André Soares had worked on the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus and the Church of Santa Maria Madalena da Falperra, and the Raio Palace is seen as an extension of the "feative character of Falperra".