Elvas

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Elvas
coat of arms map
Elvas coat of arms
Elvas (Portugal)
Elvas
Basic data
Region : Alentejo
Sub-region : Alto Alentejo
District : Portalegre
Concelho : Elvas
Coordinates : 38 ° 53 ′  N , 7 ° 10 ′  W Coordinates: 38 ° 53 ′  N , 7 ° 10 ′  W
Residents: 23,078 (as of June 30, 2011)
Surface: 631.28 km² (as of January 1, 2010)
Population density : 37 inhabitants per km²
Elvas County
flag map
Flag of Elvas Location of the Elvas district
Residents: 23,078 (as of June 30, 2011)
Surface: 631.28 km² (as of January 1, 2010)
Population density : 37 inhabitants per km²
Number of municipalities : 7th
administration
Administration address: Município de Elvas
Rua Isabel Maria Picão Apartado 70
7350-953 Elvas
President of the Câmara Municipal: José António Rondão Almeida ( PS )
Website: www.cm-elvas.pt







Elvas is a city ( Cidade ) and a district ( concelho ) in Portugal with 23,078 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2011). The city is located on a hill dominating the plain in the Portalegre district of the Alentejo region near the Spanish border, about 15 km west of Badajoz . The largest preserved bulwark fortifications in the world are located here. The UNESCO took them and the entire historical center of the town of Elvas, entitled Garrison Border Town of Elvas and its Fortifications 2012 in the list of World Heritage in.

Elvas Aqueduct

history

The area has been inhabited since the Paleolithic . When the Romans arrived in the 2nd century BC A fortified Celtic settlement of the Castro culture existed here . A large number of finds, including 23 Villae , prove the relative importance of the place in the province of Lusitania . After the invasion of the Visigoths from the 5th century onwards, the Moors conquered the place at the beginning of the 8th century and built important Arab fortifications on the remains of the Roman fortifications. After a first conquest in 1166 by Portugal's first king, D.Afonso Henriques , Elvas first became Christian in 1226 and then in 1230. The first city charter granted after the final reconquest was renewed by King Manuel I in 1512. Elvas also became a bishopric in 1570.

One of the city gates in the historic center

On January 14, 1659, the site was the scene of the battle of Batalha de Linha de Elvas , which played a major role in the outcome of the Restoration War, in which Portugal regained its independence from Spain.

Elvas picked and to the Spanish Queen Maria Luisa of Bourbon-Parma skillful oranges gave the War of the Oranges in 1801 his name. Its long tradition as a fortress town continued in Elvas during the Napoleonic invasions until 1812. After Elvas sided with the defeated absolutists in the Liberal Revolution of 1822 , the city began to decline in importance. In 1881 Elvas lost his bishopric, which had remained vacant since 1852, although in the meantime the opening of the royal road to Lisbon in 1857 and the arrival of the railroad in 1863 initiated a new, relative prosperity.

Anti-Republican putschists , including the later President Gomes da Costa , served prison sentences here after their attempted coup in 1925, during which they planned their coup d'état successfully carried out in 1926. The semi - fascist Estado Novo regime that followed, established in 1932, promoted Elvas, particularly in the 1940s. However, the city never regained its old position, and when Portugal joined the EU in 1986, it also lost its importance as a border town.

Fought over through the centuries and steadily fortified, Elvas is home to the largest preserved bulwark fortifications in the world. Since 30 June 2012, they include, as well as the entire historic city center, the World Heritage of UNESCO .

The Elvas Aqueduct

Sights and culture

220 architectural monuments are registered in the Elvas district (as of July 26, 2013). The best known include the fort and the fortresses, the city walls, and the 7540 meter long, four-story Amoreira aqueduct (Aqueduto da Amoreira) , with spans of up to 14 meters. It was started in 1498 and completed in 1622 and is a symbol of the city. A large number of sacred buildings , fountains, schools, mansions , gardens and historical public buildings such as the Caia border station, the central cinema and the station building make up the majority of the protected structures. In the old town are u. a. the former cathedral , consecrated in 1537, and the church of the Santo Domingo Monastery, founded around 1550. The old town with its winding streets and squares, Art Deco houses, fountains and churches is also a listed building as a whole.

The Museum of Modern Art (Museu de Arte Contemporânea) has been one of the most important cultural sites in the city since 2007 , in which the Colecção António Cachola, one of the most important private collections of contemporary Portuguese art, was made accessible to the public. Two military museums, a sacred art museum, and an architecture museum are some of the other museums in the city.

Forte de Santa Luzia fortress

administration

circle

Elvas is the administrative seat of a district of the same name, which borders on Spain in the southeast . The neighboring areas are (starting clockwise in the north): Arronches , Campo Maior , Alandroal , Vila Viçosa , Borba and Monforte .

With the regional reform in September 2013, several municipalities were merged into new municipalities, so that the number of municipalities decreased from eleven to seven.

The following municipalities ( Freguesias ) are in Elvas County:

Elvas County
local community Population
(2011) 		Area
km² 		Density of
population / km² 		LAU
code
Assunção, Ajuda, Salvador e Santo Ildefonso 9,688 98.66 98 120712
Barbacena e Vila Fernando 979 82.53 12 120714
Caia, São Pedro e Alcáçova 6.253 104.04 60 120713
Santa Eulália 1,198 98.52 12 120706
São Brás e São Lourenço 1,684 47.63 35 120707
Sao Vicente e Ventosa 801 101.68 8th 120708
Terrugem e Vila Boim 2,475 98.22 25th 120715
Elvas County 23,078 631.28 37 1207

Population development

Population in Elvas County (1801–2011)
1801 1849 1900 1930 1960 1981 1991 2001 2011
16,963 15,425 21,548 24,711 28,562 24,981 24,474 23,361 23,078

Municipal holiday

  • January 14 (memorial day of the battle of January 14, 1659)
At the Elvas train station

Town twinning

traffic

The city can be reached via the Linha do Leste railway line . From January 1, 2012 to August 28, 2017, only goods traffic was handled on the route, since then there has been another pair of trains between Badajoz and Entroncamento on the Linha do Norte .

Elvas is part of the national bus network of the Rede Nacional de Expressos .

Adelaide Cabete

Elvas is connected to the country's road network via the A6 motorway and the N4 national road.

Luís Gomes da Mata

sons and daughters of the town

See also

Web links

Commons : Elvas  - 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. ↑ a b Overview of code assignments from Freguesias on epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu
  3. ↑ www.verportugal.net , accessed July 26, 2013
  4. ↑ History page on the website of the city administration ( Memento of the original from December 30, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed July 26, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cm-elvas.pt
  5. ↑ www.monumentos.pt , accessed on July 26, 2013
  6. ^ Lydia Hohenberger, Jürgen Strohmaier: Portugal . 2nd edition, DuMont Reiseverlag, Ostfildern 2009, p. 326.
  7. ^ Publication of the administrative reorganization in the Diário da República gazette of January 28, 2013, accessed on March 16, 2014
  8. ↑ www.anmp.pt , accessed on July 26, 2013
  9. ^ [1] Communication from the CP