Historic Centre of Guimarães and Couros Zone

Portugal likes to say it was born in Guimarães, where the national identity took shape in the 12th century. The town records every stage from medieval settlement to modern city, its 15th- to 19th-century houses built with unbroken local techniques and materials, while the Couros Zone preserves the tanneries of the leather craft that named it. UNESCO inscribed the historic centre in 2001, honouring a millennium of Portuguese urban life.