Carlos Amarante

Carlos Luís Ferreira da Cruz Amarante (Braga, 1748 - Oporto, 1815) was an important Portuguese engineer and architect.

[1] Amarante's father was musician in the court of the Bishop of Braga.

He began pursuing an ecclesiastical career, but left the seminary when he was 23 years old to marry Luísa Clara Xavier.

He was particularly influenced by the many Neoclassical buildings of English inspiration that were built in Oporto during the 18th century.

He was the designer of the 1806 Ponte das Barcas, a pontoon bridge forming the first permanent crossing between Porto and Gaia, which was the site of the Porto Boat Bridge disaster when the bridge partially collapsed as thousands of Porto residents fled invading French troops.