Alpalhão

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Alpalhão
coat of arms map
Coat of arms of Alpalhão
Alpalhão (Portugal)
Alpalhão
Basic data
Region : Alentejo
Sub-region : Alto Alentejo
District : Portalegre
Concelho : Nisa
Coordinates : 39 ° 25 ′  N , 7 ° 37 ′  W Coordinates: 39 ° 25 ′  N , 7 ° 37 ′  W
Residents: 1238 (as of June 30, 2011)
Surface: 34.23 km² (as of January 1, 2010)
Population density : 36 inhabitants per km²
Postal code : 6050-033
politics
Mayor : Ana Cecília Manteiga Carrilho
Address of the municipal administration: Junta de Freguesia de Alpalhão
Largo António T. Sequeira
6050-033 Alpalhão
Website: www.alpalhao.freguesias.pt

Alpalhão is a small town ( Vila ) and municipality in Portugal .

history

The Alpalhãos stone cross from the 16th century

The place goes back to the Arab village Alpalantri , which in turn probably went back to a Roman fortification. Fortifications still existed here when, in the course of the Portuguese Reconquista, King Sancho I gave the Açafa area (today's Nisa, Vila Velha de Ródão and partly Proença-a-Nova districts) to the Knights Templar for resettlement .

At the end of the 13th to the beginning of the 14th century the municipality of Alpalhão became independent. The place received city rights by King Manuel I in 1512 and was the seat of its own district. In 1855 the district was dissolved and Nisa was incorporated. After being outsourced to the Crato district in 1895, Alpalhão has remained a municipality in the Nisa district since 1898.

Culture and sights

With the Casa-Museu de Alpalhão , the community maintains a local museum, housed in a listed historical building.

Kreuzberg chapel from the 15th century

The monuments of the municipality also include the medieval castle, the bullring ( Portuguese : Praça de Touros ), and other historical public buildings, such as a fountain, elementary school, etc. a. Some sacred buildings should also be mentioned, such as the Manueline Igreja de Misericórdia de Alpalhão . The single-nave church, also known as Igreja do Espírito Santo (English: Church of the Holy Spirit), has Mannerist altarpieces and wooden ceilings.

The historic town center is also a listed building as a whole.

Bird watching is practiced in the natural areas around Alpalhão.

economy

The community is dominated by agriculture, cattle breeding and the cultivation of grain and vegetables are to be mentioned. An important branch of the economy is also the mining and processing of granite .

Companies in the building trade, locksmithing , sausage production and baking are based in the community, plus there are businesses in the trade and catering.

Even the craft is important, especially traditional embroidery , lace and carpets are made here.

Tourism is not yet of major importance here and is mostly operated as rural tourism in the form of individual tourism .

administration

Population development in the municipality of Alpalhão (1864–2011)

Alpalhão is the seat of a municipality of the same name ( Freguesia ) in the district ( concelho ) of Nisa in the Portalegre district . It has 1238 inhabitants on an area of ​​34 km² (as of June 30, 2011).

The following localities are in the municipality:

  • Alpalhão
  • Carvalhal
  • Catraia

traffic

The Vale do Peso train station, 5 km to the south , on the Ramal de Cáceres railway line , was the closest railway connection. The line was closed in August 2012.

Alpalhão is part of the national bus network of Rede Expressos .

The place is on the IP2 (here also European route E 802), which leads 28 km northwest to junction no. 15 (near Gardete) of the A23 motorway . To the southeast, the IP2 runs past the district capital Portalegre, 25 km away.

Web links

Commons : Alpalhão  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b www.ine.pt - indicator resident population by place of residence and sex; Decennial in the database of the Instituto Nacional de Estatística
  2. ↑ Overview of code assignments from Freguesias on epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu
  3. ^ João Fonseca: Dicionário do Nome das Terras . 2nd Edition. Casa das Letras, Cruz Quebrada 2007, ISBN 978-9724617305 , p. 28.
  4. ↑ www.monumentos.pt (under Cronologia ), accessed on July 24, 2013.
  5. ↑ www.monumentos.pt , accessed on July 24, 2013
  6. ↑ ditto
  7. ↑ ditto
  8. ↑ ditto
  9. ↑ ditto
  10. ↑ www.avesdeportugal.info , accessed July 24, 2013
  11. ↑ Portrait of the community on the community website , accessed on July 24, 2013