page_title: Ribeira Grande City Hall
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: Ribeira Grande City Hall / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: Português: Edifício da Câmara da Ribeira Grande, ilha de São Miguel, Açores
context_page_description: The Ribeira Grande City Hall is a medieval structure constructed to house the municipal council/authority, situated in the civil parish of Matriz, municipality of Ribeira Grande, on the Portgueese archipelago of the Azores.
context_section_description: The municipal hall is situated in the city of Ribeira Grande, fronted by the gardens of the Praça Hintze Ribeiro (also known as the people's garden) and alongside the walls and grade of the Ribeira Grande river.
  Immediately nearby are the Church of the Misericórdia, Church of the Holy Spirit and Church of Nossa Senhora da Estrela (the parochial church of Ribeira Grande) in the east and the Ribeiragrandense Theatre in the southwest.
  The building is the ex-libris of the city, consisting of a three-story structure linked by archway to a right, lateral clocktower. The principal corp of the building is a rectangular plan with access by a symmetrical staircase that includes large balusters to the entrance, flanked by windows. The body is surmounted by three windows with verandas. Over the staircase is a tunnel-like passage that allows access to the subterranean floor, with an entranceway door surmounted by a lintel with the municipal coat-of-arms flanked by two diamond forms, linked to the top floor balcony console. On the facade are more contemporary windows, including rounded window (with flag and geometric motives), situated on upper left corner and window illuminating the staircase. The second, less profound, corp of the structure is situated on the right-hand side, dominated by the tower, and forming an arched "bridge". The ground floor is primarily substituted by a framed arch of grand dimensions that allows the passage of a road. On the principal facade of the upper floors are two windows with varanda and two with guillotine-style windows, while the rear have simple unframed windows.
  Within the main hall of the building are azulejo tiles representing the watermills, the traditional Cavalhadas de São Pedro, feasts of the Holy Spirit, tea plantations, the former municipal coat-of-arms (dating to the constitutional monarchy) and Gaspar Frutuoso. In addition is the historic pillory, as well as a collection of photographs of Portuguese chiefs-of-staff, beginning with Queen Maria II.
caption: The three-story ex-libris of Ribeira Grande, with covered archway and clocktower
exif: {}