The city's main arts venue, opened in 2005 around the restored 18th-century Vila Flor Palace and its tiered gardens. The new buildings — a large auditorium and a smaller black-box theatre — are wrapped in pale stone that echoes the palace without imitating it.
Programming covers everything from contemporary dance and world music to chamber concerts and visual-art exhibitions. Even if there is nothing on, the gardens are worth walking through: terraced lawns, baroque statues, and a view back up to the historic centre.