The hotel rises along the riverfront of the Aveiro Lagoon within the factory quarters, adjoining the Chapel of Our Lady of Penha de França (itself a national monument), the Vista Alegre theatre and the complex’s museum. Conceived in such a way as to incur minimal impact on the surrounding ecosystem, the new hotel building responds to a desire to congregate Vista Alegre’s multifaceted heritage into one space, thereby integrating the brand’s industrial, cultural and technological achievements. The interior design is signed by Sam Baron and Isabel Abreu of Sam Baron and Co., while the architectural design was entrusted to a team of architects of the Grupo Visabeira, led by Paula Fonseca Nunes and Tiago Peixoto Araújo of Nembo Oficina.

The 82-room hotel is composed of two distinct areas. A contemporary wing and the historical Palácio, once home to the seven generations of the Pinto Basto family, where the spaces are seen to preserve original plaster ceilings and finishings as well as murals signed by the porcelain house’s iconic painters. Divided into three specially themed floors that correspond to the various production stages of porcelain (modelling, firing and decorating), the hotel’s interiors are characterised by a large presence of artefacts from the Vista Alegre archives, with each room skilfully arranged to lure guests into a fascinating journey through the process of porcelain-making. Porcelain pieces, hand-painted finishings and wall decorations celebrate the brand with the legendary floral, animal and marine patterns reminiscent of the prolific collaboration of Vista Alegre with creative artists from around the world.

Aside from the hotel restaurant serving fine regional cuisine, two bars and a wellness centre, guests are provided with a host of in-house experiences to connect with the history and the many legends surrounding the factory quarters such as tours of the industrial site and the workers’ estate, glass and ceramics workshops as well as itineraries to discover the prodigious waters of the Fountain of Carapichel or the grandiose tomb of Bishop Manuel de Moura Manoel, carved in local Ançã stone by baroque sculptor Claude Laprade.