Palácio Ratton – Constitutional Court

The palace that has housed the Constitutional Court since 1982 was originally the residence of the Ratton family, who built it on the same site where they had acquired a hat factory and the adjoining buildings. In Rua de “O Século”, the regular facade of the 3-storey building maintains continuity with the city. The interior shows traces of the initial occupancy, now intertwined with its current function. Oil portraits and group photographs bear witness to the passing of time, to generations of presidents and judges, as if they were family portraits in a home. The spaces reveal symbols of their use, like the room where the court meets and decides, or the “Sala de Actos”, featuring Eduardo Batarda’s tapestry, which is the backdrop for the reading of rulings – a thousand times televised, but only witnessed in person by very few. The garden is also far from view, combining an abundance of hundred-year-old species of plants and trees.