The Convent of Vilar de Frades is located in Areias de Vilar, Barcelos, and was supposedly founded in the year 556 by Bishop S. Martinho de Dume, although this is not proven. There are no traces from that time, as the Muslim invasions caused its ruin. The space began as a Benedictine monastery in the 11th century. In 1425, it was handed over to a new congregation, the Canons of S. Salvador de Vilar de Frades, known as Lóios, becoming the mother house of the congregation in Portugal. From 1834, the Convent of Vilar de Frades passed to the State and was later sold at public auction. Of an area of 90 hectares, everything was sold to private individuals except the church, the sacristy, and the cloister, which were designated as a parish residence. The wings of the convent and the convent wall were closed and sold to private individuals, initially transforming into a farm. In 1953, it was bought by Artur Cupertino de Miranda who, in 1957, sold it to the Hospitaller Order of S. João de Deus, which to this day has a presence there with the Casa de Saúde S. José, for people with mental disabilities. In the 1960s, the Hospitaller Order of S. João de Deus ceded the cloister fountain of the Convent of Vilar de Frades to the Municipality of Barcelos, which is now located in Largo da Porta Nova and is classified as a National Monument. Since 1910 it has been considered a national monument. In 1994, the requalification works of the Convent of Vilar de Frades began and in 2006 the space was opened to the public.