The street of Santa Maria has some remarkable buildings, such as the old Convent of Santa Clara, one of the richest in Guimarães. Founded in the 16th century by the Master Canon of the Collegiate of Nossa Senhora da Oliveira, Baltasar de Andrade, it now houses the Town Hall.

Inside there are beautiful cloisters and gardens, but it is in the baroque style façade where we get lost, in the superb details, worked in granite and which lead us to the central image, the sculpture of Santa Clara.

Crowning it, two seraphim hold a sign with the inscription of the year in which the current façade of the building was built, 1741.

It was in this convent that the skilled Clarissan nuns dedicated themselves to making the convent sweets of Guimarães: Toucinho do Céu and Tortas de Guimarães, at the same time that they swore to stay away from earthly temptations to better serve God.

The secret of these recipes was passed down from generation to generation to a couple of families from Guimarães, who still make them today and delight lovers of artisanal convent sweets.

The convent was abandoned in 1834, the year in which the religious orders were abolished. In 1891 the Nossa Senhora da Oliveira seminary was established there. Since 1975, the building has housed the services of the Guimarães City Council.