The Convent of Vilar de Frades is located in Areias de Vilar, Barcelos, and was founded in 556 by Bishop S. Martinho de Dume, although it is not proven. There are no traces left of that time, as Muslim invasions led to 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 congregation’s mother house in Portugal.

After 1834, the Vilar de Frades Convent passed to the State and was then sold at public auction. From an area of ​​90 hectares, everything was sold privately, except the church, the sacristy and the cloister, which was used as a parish residence. The conventual wings and the conventual fence were closed and sold to private parties, initially being transformed into a farm. In 1953 it was purchased 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 disorders.

In the 1960s, the Hospitaller Order of S. João de Deus gives the fountain in the cloister of the Convent of Vilar de Frades to the Municipality of Barcelos , which today is located in Largo da Porta Nova and is classified as a National Monument,

Since 1910 it has been considered a national monument. In 1994 work began on requalifying the Vilar de Frades Convent and in 2006 the space was opened to the public.