Urbanized in 1861, its name comes from a battle that took place in the 10th century between the Portuguese Christians and the Saracens (Arabs) of Almançor, with the consequent defeat of the people of Porto. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries this area became one of the most interesting cultural areas of the city, with the inauguration of the old Águia d’Ouro Cinema in 1899, and the opening, in 1908, of High Life Hall, which would later become the Batalha cinema, after its reformulation in 1947 by the architect Artur Andrade. 

The presence of the Teatro Nacional S. João dates to 1798 by the hand of the Italian architect Vincent Mazzoneschi. The statue in the square was placed in 1866 in honor of King D. Pedro V, “the hopeful” and “the much Beloved” and is by Teixeira Lopes (father). The emblazoned palace that is next to the old High Life Hall and facing the statue, and which is currently a hotel, was built at the end of the eighteenth century by José Anastácio da Silva da Fonseca, knight of the Royal House.