The avenue pays homage to the Allied countries of the First World War.

History

The avenue construction project began on February 1, 1916. There was a set of short streets and alleys that were called “the washhouses”. Furthermore, it had two very busy, parallel main streets between the corner of Sampaio Bruno and Largo da Trindade: Rua de D. Pedro and Rua do Laranjal.

The launch ceremony of the work, on February 1, 1916, was attended by the then President of the Republic, Bernardino Machado, and consisted of the dismantling of the “first stone” of the baroque mansion in Praça da Liberdade, where, since 1816 and until then, the Porto Chamber was installed.

The statue “A Juventude”, by sculptor Henrique Moreira, was installed in 1929.

The grandeur of its architectural complex and its central character make it the city’s “drawing room”, a place par excellence where Porto residents gather to celebrate special moments.

All the buildings are made of good granite, many of them crowned with lanterns, domes and spiers. The axis of the avenue is marked by a wide central plate that, until mid-2006, was landscaped and is now completely paved with granite cobblestones. When the gardens were removed, the entrances to the Congregados pedestrian tunnel were also covered.

Roughly in the middle of the avenue, on both sides, are the two entrances to the Aliados Station on Line D of the Porto Metro. It was precisely the construction of the station that led to the complete redesign of the avenue, work that was handed over to architects Álvaro Siza Vieira and Eduardo Souto Moura. The project was
surrounded by enormous controversy for allegedly distorting the historical and landscape tradition of the place. Despite everything, the work — which sought to create continuity between the Avenue and Praça de Liberdade — was, in general terms, completed.

On the afternoon of May 15, 1982, Pope John Paul II presided over a mass celebrated next to the City Hall, on Avenida dos Aliados, on his first apostolic visit to Portugal.

On May 14, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated a mass on Avenida dos Aliados, attended by between 120 and 150 thousand people.

At the top,
where the Porto City Council building stands, the avenue gives way to Praça do
General Humberto Delgado.