Viana do Castelo & Santa Luzia

Santa Luzia is the hill above Viana do Castelo, crowned by the Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a granite church built from 1904 to a design by the architect Ventura Terra. From the top, the view covers the city, the mouth of the Lima, the river valley and the Atlantic coast, and the hill is reached from the city by the Santa Luzia funicular, the longest in Portugal.

The hill also keeps the remains of an Iron Age hillfort, the Citânia de Santa Luzia.

What to see on Santa Luzia

Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus: a granite church in the neo-Romanesque and neo-Gothic styles, with a large dome, whose top can be climbed for the view.
Santa Luzia funicular: a line of 650 metres that climbs 160 metres from the city to the sanctuary in about seven minutes, open since 1923. It is more than twice as long as the next longest in Portugal, at Nazaré.
Citânia de Santa Luzia: the ruins of an Iron Age fortified settlement, with the walls and foundations of round houses.
View: the terraces around the sanctuary, over the city, the Lima estuary and the coast.

History of Santa Luzia

Iron Age: a fortified settlement occupies the hilltop.
1899: Ventura Terra designs the new sanctuary.
1904: construction begins, and it stops after the proclamation of the Republic in 1910.
1923: the funicular opens.
1926: work resumes under Miguel Nogueira.
1943: the exterior is completed.
1959: the interior works end.
2020: the church is raised to a diocesan sanctuary.

Visiting Santa Luzia

Funicular: the lower station is near the railway station of Viana do Castelo, and the funicular is owned by the municipality.
By road or on foot: the hill can also be reached by car or by a long stairway through the woods.
Tickets: entry to the church is free, and a small fee is charged to climb the dome and to ride the funicular.