The Museum of Guarda, at the heart of the city, is located in the ancient building of the Episcopal Seminary, whose construction began in 1601, under the patronage of D. Nuno de Noronha, the Bishop of Guarda. The building, classified as Public Interest Property by Executive Order of February 26, 28/82, in an integrant part of a architectural whole that comprises the entire block, including the old Episcopal Palace, also from the 17th century, and a chapel of a later date. From an architectural point of view, the building is of a Counter-Reformation aesthetic. The ashlar walls are made of rectangular granite blocks set on a row, quite noteworthy for its ample proportions, which emphasizes the formal and decorative sobriety of its minimal, cold, clear lines. The only ornamentation is, point in fact, the tubular gargoyles one finds in the Ecclesiastic Stone of Arms and the two inscriptions, one on the main entrance, "NONIVS HOS ADITVS. MVSARVM. INSTRVXIT. IN VSVS PONTIFICIS LABOREST. PIERIDVMQVE. DOMVS” and the second on the shim of the façade, by the coat of arms of D. Nuno de Noronha, "D. Nuno de Noronha, Bispo da Guarda, filho do conde de Odemira, instituiu este Seminário no ano de 1601" (“Dom Nuno de Noronha, Bishop of Guarda, son of the Count of Odemira, founded this Seminar in the year of 1601”). Its architecture reveals a classic erudite influence, namely in its U-shaped planimetry, its inner patio and the resource to the round arch structure in the ground floor. The cultural context of the Counter-Reformation under the shadow of the Council of Trent summoned an architectural purity that George Kubler would coin in 1988 as plain style. The plain style would be in use throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, and was characterised by sobriety in its construction expression, disclosing its military architecture heritage and the religious-dictated constraints. The decorative plainness was associated to these strict rules of functional organization.
During its first function, the building housed the Seminar from the 17th century to the instauration of the Republic. When the building became State property it changed its functions. Given the fact the city had no specific place to house the several public services the large building took up that task, lodging several military services and the county jail.
The museum institution founded in 1940 would find in the building the space to present its collections. These continuous and differentiated functions brought about changes to the edifice’s structure. The most significant were the ones associated to the Museum of Guarda’s refurbishing project between 1982 and 1985, projected by architect Jorge de Brito working for the Portuguese Institute of Cultural Heritage.
As one can observe, the changes in the fenestration pattern, quite visible in the wall blankets, are undoubtedly due to the changes of the building’s function and internal structure. Within the period it was under the control of the Church, the chief modification that we are aware of is the reduction of the northern area, adjacent to the chapel and therefore placed within the inner patio.