One of the delights of Porto’s architecture is the Hidden House between two churches. There is some claim that it inspired J K Rowling and her Harry Potter series. Is this connection true, or is the city trying to cash in on its celebrity connection?

History

There are two churches in Porto’s centre which are (almost) next to one another. These are the Church of Carmel and the Church of the Carmelites. (Igreja do Carmo and Igreja dos Carmelitas, in Portuguese.)  It’s unusual to have two places of worship so close to each other, and more unusual to have them side-by-side.

Religious laws at the time forbade churches to be built next to one another, but this may be a legend rather than a hard and fast rule¹. The architects got around this “rule” by inserting a tiny house – 1 metre (3 feet) wide! – between the two churches². Locals soon started calling this Casa Escondida (The Hidden House)².

The three-storey house is open for visitors now but people lived in it as recently as the 1980s¹. Chaplains lived there, as did artists and tradesmen who worked on the churches^{1 3}. It was also used for secret meetings between Napoleon’s invading forces and the Portuguese resistance during the Siege of Porto¹.

These churches were sanctuaries, unlike the ones in Malta.

Nowadays, it sports a Spartan interior, showing how people lived there.

Igreja do Carmo

Built between 1756 and 1768¹, this is the more recent of the two^{4 5},

Igreja dos Carmelitas

Built between 1616⁶ and 1628^{1 6}, this started off being part of a convent for the Carmelite order^{4 5} of nuns¹. This is one of the oldest buildings in the historical part of the city⁵.

Architecture and art

Looking at the two buildings it’s easy to tell they’re two separate ones rather than one single place. It’s not so obvious to see where the Hidden House is.

The Igreja do Carmo

The church and has a neo-classical facade sporting the figure of Saint Anne⁴. The layout is the work of architect José de Figueiredo Seixas. Seixas was a disciple of Niccolo Nasoni⁷ who designed and built most of Porto⁴.

The church decorated the eastern wall with traditional local-made Portuguese tiles. If you approach the buildings from this side, it captures the eye and it’s hard to notice anything else. They added this in 1912 and the image depicts the founding of the order⁴.

The interior of the church is a marvel of rococo and baroque, rich in decoration and wood carving^{1 4 7}.

Igreja dos Carmelitas

The church has a classical granite¹ facade and a single bell tower, which its neighbour doesn’t have^{4 5}.

The interior of the church is a marvel of rococo and baroque style, rich in decoration and golden⁵ wood carving⁴. It took them till 1650 to finish the interior, long after they consecrated the church⁶.

Popular culture

Best-selling author J K Rowling used to live in Porto in the early nineties. She has confirmed drawing inspiration for her Potter series from Porto. Local guidebooks are full of proud connections to the Harry Potter universe.

Visitors inundate the Lello bookstore, for example. Here they see the inspiration behind the Flourish and Bolts’ bookshop where Potter and his friends buy their magic books⁸. When I visited, the queue to enter was more than 10 deep, despite the scorching temperatures.

There are many connections between a hidden house and Rowling’s stories. The first place I thought of was the Order of the Phoenix, at 12 Grimmauld Place (also a hidden building). It’s worth noting Rowling never acknowledged such a connection. The information panels in the house hint at this, without mentioning her by name.

Whether there is a Potter connection or not, it is a beautiful part of old Porto and well worth a visit.

References

1. Porto churches: Igreja do Carmo & Igreja dos Carmelitas; PortugalVisitor.com; (Retrieved 2023-10-12) [↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
2. En Route with “Dreamhouse Wanted” in Porto; La Dolce Vita; 2022-06-07 [↩][↩]
3. As witnessed by author; Casa Escondida; 2020-09-30[↩]
4. Igreja do Carmo; TripsPoint.com; (Retrieved 2023-10-12) [↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
5. Igreja do Carmo (Carmo Church), Porto; GPS My City; (Retrieved 2023-10-12) [↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
6. Igreja dos Carmelitas; Religiana.com; (Retrieved 2023-10-12) [↩][↩][↩]
7. Carmo church, Porto; University of Notre Dame; (Retrieved 2023-10-12) [↩][↩]
8. Following in the footsteps of Harry Potter in Porto, the city that inspired JK Rowling; AFP; Estado de Minas; 2016-07-29 (Article in Portuguese) [↩]

Remember: links were correct at time of publication.