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The Palace of Raio (Palácio do Raio) owes its name to one of the owners - Miguel José Raio, Viscount of São Lázaro -, who acquired the building in 1867 (PASSOS, 1954, p. 85). However, it edification goes back to the 1754-1755 years, by the architect André Soares. Its work is characterized by the monumentality, by the plasticity of the shapes, and by the use of a natural decorative language, very characteristic, of shell-shapes, pitchers, wreaths and garlands (SMITH, 1968, p. 305). In the Portuguese art context, André Soares fits in the late baroque and the beginning of the rococo, situation that reflects on his architectures, where the structure is baroque but the decoration is rococo (PEREIRA, 1989, p. 456).