In the middle of the 17th century, in the aftermath of the establishment of the house of Braganza, the assets of the Vila Real are handed over by King D. João IV, to the administration of the House of the Infantado, created to support his heirs. The House of the Infantando will promote works on the river Lis from the city to its mouth, either to control the city’s floods and to regulate and irrigate the extensive farming fields of the Lis Valley. The plan made by Reinaldo Oudinot in 1783 as part of this hydraulic engineering project is a precious document due to its accuracy and to the information it provides us regarding the location of some of the facilities and buildings existing at the time and later demolished. We highlight the location of the Chapel of the Angels demolished to make way for the Hospital of Mercy that the bishop D. Manuel de Aguiar had built in 1800.
