The bizarre 3ft wide house squeezed between two churches in Euro city | Travel News | Travel

From the outside, this beautiful building in Porto, Portugal, looks like an enormous church. However, if you look closely, not only are these two separate churches, but there is actually a tiny home between them that could easily be mistaken for a wall and has been dubbed the city’s “narrowest house”.

For tourists not familiar with the history of this impressive structure, you may not even notice it. Built in the 17th century, the Igreja dos Carmelitas Descalços (Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel) became a home for Carmelite nuns. Just a century later, the Igreja do Carmo (Church of the Carmelites) structure followed, built for Carmelite monks. Both churches are incredibly beautiful, making it easy to completely miss the small, humble house standing between them, with two windows and a green front door.

The Igreja dos Carmelitas Descalços boasts a granite façade and three arched entrances with statues on top. On its left is a single bell tower, with a top covered in white and blue azulejo tiles. 

The Igreja do Carmo, meanwhile, features a late Baroque design with tiles locally made in Vila Nova de Gaia, just six miles south of Porto. The side façade, designed by Silvestre Silvestri, depicts scenes alluding to the founding of the Carmelite Order and Mount Carmel.

There are several local stories as to why these churches are side by side. The most common says it is because the archbishops could not get along, so one built a church next door to the other in the ultimate architectural spite move. Another, less dramatic version, recounts a law that does not allow two churches to share the same wall. A third theory said the bizarre house was erected to put some distance between the nuns and monks, to stop them from getting too cozy.

Built in 1768, the property was surprisingly spacious, with a living room, bedroom, study and bedroom, spread across three floors connected by an impressive spiral staircase. Incredibly, people actually lived within the unbelievably narrow home up until the 1980s, by chaplains, artists, doctors and the church’s caretaker.

The simple interior of the tiny home is separated from the opulent church by only a curtain.

Today, visitors can buy a ticket to peek inside this most unusual building, available for €5 (£4.22), which includes access to the museum.