Figueira da Foz

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Figueira da Foz
coat of arms map
Figueira da Foz coat of arms
Figueira da Foz (Portugal)
Figueira da Foz
Basic data
Region : Centro
Sub-region : Region of Coimbra
District : Coimbra
Concelho : Figueira da Foz
Coordinates : 40 ° 9 ′  N , 8 ° 51 ′  W Coordinates: 40 ° 9 ′  N , 8 ° 51 ′  W
Residents: 9709 (as of June 30, 2011)
Surface: 3.89 km² (as of January 1, 2010)
Population density : 2496 inhabitants per km²
Postal code : 3084-501
politics
Mayor : João Albino Rainho Ataíde das Neves
Address of the municipal administration: Paços do Concelho
Av. Saraiva de Carvalho
3084 - 501 Figueira da Foz
Website: www.cm-figfoz.pt
Figueira da Foz district
flag map
Flag of Figueira da Foz Position of the Figueira da Foz district
Residents: 62,125 (as of June 30, 2011)
Surface: 379.04 km² (as of January 1, 2010)
Population density : 164 inhabitants per km²
Number of municipalities : 14th
administration
Administration address: Câmara Municipal de Figueira da Foz
Av. Saraiva de Carvalho
3084-501 Figueira da Foz
Website: www.cm-figfoz.pt

Figueira da Foz [ fi'gɐiɾɐ dɐ fɔʃ ] ( Eng .: fig tree at the mouth) is a city in the Coimbra district in Portugal , which is made up of seven municipalities or districts. The district of the same name includes eleven other communities. In Portugal the city is often called Figueira for short , and is abbreviated to Fig.Foz or Fig. Da Foz , for example on signposts.

The city became known in the country as a fashionable seaside resort at the end of the 19th century , and since the 1920s it has also increasingly been a destination for Spanish tourists who came directly via the Linha da Beira Alta railway line . Today Figueira da Foz is still known for its beaches and Figueira Casino , but also for various music and sporting events.

Figueira da Foz as seen from Buarcos

geography

The seaside resort is located at the mouth of the Mondego River in the Atlantic Ocean , 40 kilometers west of the district capital Coimbra and to the north surrounded by the Serra da Boa Viagem .

history

The current estuary of the Mondego , a kind of marshland, was probably a sea bay stretching far into the land until the Iron Age , which later silted up. On the edge of the bay and on islands in the bay, people already settled in the early Neolithic . As the middens of Forno da Cal . Some megalithic systems date from the Neolithic and the Copper Age . The best-known site is Santa Olaia , a hill on the northern edge of the Mondego Valley, which was already settled in the Neolithic period, but is famous for its Iron Age settlement , which existed until Roman times . Santa Olaia was excavated by António dos Santos Rocha (1853-1910) from Figueira da Foz , one of the founders of modern Portuguese archeology. Its collections form the basis of the Museu Municipal Santos Rocha . Today 123 archaeological sites are known from the place and the surrounding area.

The name Figueira is first mentioned in a document from 1237, but the São Julião church is significantly older. It may have originally been a monastery that is said to have been destroyed. Pinho Leal, a 19th century scholar, reported that it was destroyed by the Arabs in 717. Thus the earliest mention of Figueira da Foz comes from the destruction of its first church by the Saracens . With the bull of 1390 Pope Boniface IX recognized. the rebuilt church of Figueira da Foz.

After pirate attacks, the Santa Catarina fortress was built on the Mondego estuary in 1585. In the earthquake of 1755 , the town's main church, which had only been newly built in 1701, was completely destroyed.

On March 12, 1771 Figueira da Foz was elevated to a vila (small town).

In 1807 the French general Andoche Junot also took the area of ​​Figueira da Foz in the course of the French invasions . In 1808 the English general Lord Wellington landed there with his army and liberated the city.

In March 1882 Figueira da Foz was promoted to city (Cidade), and in 1884 the first casino in the country was opened here with the Casino Figueira .

In 1902, the Figueira da Foz - Lisbon rally was the country's first major car race.

With spurts at the end of the 19th century, from the 1930s, and since the 1950s, Figueira increasingly developed into a well-known, sophisticated seaside resort in Portugal. The place was the subject of a series of film documentaries early on, and a large number of hotels and restaurants were opened in the place. From then on, tourism became an important pillar of the local economy.

Culture and sights

The Grande Hotel in the 1950s

The main attraction are the wide sandy beaches on both sides of the Mondego, especially the wide city beach Praia da Claridade with the characteristic clock tower and the Grande Hotel from 1953. The Centro de Artes e Espectáculos (CAE), which opened in 2002, is a cultural center with an auditorium , cinema and exhibitions City. The municipal museum Museu Municipal resides next door (regional antique finds, ceramics, furniture, folk art from overseas, next to it changing art exhibitions) with the library and the photo archive.

In the saltworks open-air museum Núcleo Museológico do Sal in Lavos , salt is still produced today and, in particular, the high-quality Flor do Sal is also offered for sale by some local salt farmers . The facility is part of the European Route of Industrial Culture . The Núcleo Museológico do Mar fishing and marine museum in Buarcos , the upper-class villa complex Palácio Sotto Maior or the Baroque mansion Paço de Maiorca in Maiorca are other cultural focal points, as is the urban bullring from 1895, which occasionally hosts concerts. The Casa do Paço, lined with Delft tiles, and the municipal market hall Mercado Municipal Engenheiro Silva with their steel construction from 1892 are also worth seeing.

The lighthouse on Cabo Mondego

Casino Figueira , also known as Casino Peninsular, reopened in 1927 , in which the city's second cinema was set up in addition to the casino , restaurant, café and event hall. An international film festival took place here between 1972 and 2002 (see list of film festivals in Portugal ), after which the cinema was shut down as part of a comprehensive redesign. Since 2014, the Figueira Film Art has been another international film festival in the city, at various venues in the city.

The Cape of Cabo Mondego was included in the list of Global Boundary Stratotype Sections and Points as an example of the Middle Jurassic, and an application for recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site has been submitted. From there, the Serra da Boa Viagem nature reserve rises to almost 262 meters. Cycle paths, nature trails and hiking trails run through the forest.

Carnival parades, folklore festivals and big band parades take place every year along the Avenida 25 de Abril promenade . Special mention should be made of the city festival of S. João ( St John ) on June 24th, with numerous events, exhibitions and the traditional "midnight bath" in the sea. It is known nationwide.

The Palácio da Justiça was built in 1961.

Since 2012, the RFM Somnii (also Figueira da Foz Sunset Festival ), a large festival of electronic dance music, has been held on the city ​​beach of Figueira da Foz . The festival, which attracts tens of thousands of visitors, takes place every year at the beginning of July and is co-organized by the radio station RFM, which, like Rádio Renascença, belongs to R / com - Renascença Comunicação Multimédia , the media group of the Catholic Church in Portugal. In the 2016 edition, u. a. DJ Snake , R3hab , Hardwell , Diego Miranda , Oliver Heldens and Galantis .

Sports

From 1997 to 2004 Figueira da Foz was the venue for the Mundialito de Futebol de Praia , an international beach soccer country tournament in addition to the Beach Soccer World Cup .

Figueira is also important for surfing (most recently World Surf Championship 2010, and IFCA Slaloms Worlds 2008).

Figueira is also known to sailors . The 17th edition of the Rally Portugal , a regatta of the World Cruising Club, took place here in 2011 . In April 2013 a sailor and a Portuguese coastal policeman died in the accident involving the Hamburg X442 "Meri Tuuli" off Figueira da Foz.

In 2009, the city hosted the 84th International Six-Day Race, an enduro motorcycle race that is considered to be the national team's world championship.

Founded in 1893, Naval 1º de Maio is the city's most important sports club, especially its professional football team, which plays its home games at the Estádio Municipal José Bento Pessoa . There are also other associations, especially the Ginásio Clube Figueirense from 1895, u. a. with its successful basketball and rowing departments.

The Tennis Club da Figueira da Foz was founded in 1917 and is located directly at the mouth of the river at the fortress walls of Santa Catarina.

The old lighthouse on the fortress walls of Sta.Catarina

Various clubs and municipal institutions regularly organize city runs, cycle races and regattas. The cycle path network on the beach and in the whole district is being expanded.

In Figueira there is a national equestrian center, the Centro Hípico da Figueira da Foz , which today belongs to the Centro Hípico de Alcaria .

media

There are two weekly newspapers in the city, O Figueirense (founded in 1919) and A Voz da Figueira (1928). The regional daily newspaper As Beiras also reports daily on Figueira da Foz, where it is present with a local editorial team.

In Figueira, a local radio channel broadcasts all day, the Rádio Clube Foz do Mondego 99.1 FM .

Among the multitude of Internet pages about Figueira, the website figueiradigital.com should be mentioned, which is networked with many important sites on the place (city administration, events, tourism, transport, real estate, etc.).

Movie

The Centro de Artes e Espectáculos (CAE)

The city has hosted film productions several times. Various feature films were shot here, including A Promessa (1973, director: António de Macedo ), Casino Oceano (1983, director: Lauro António ), and Sinais de Fogo (1995, director: Luís Filipe Rocha ). A large number of documentaries were also made here. Recently, the city was the subject of an episode of the series "360 ° GEO Reportage" the magazine GEO for the TV channel arte (premiere March 8, 2014).

From 1972, the Festival Internacional de Cinema da Figueira da Foz (FICFF), one of the country's first film festivals , was held here. Up until 2002, international films were shown in the Casino Peninsular and awarded the Prémio Glauber Rocha . From September 8th to 14th, 2014, the festival will continue with Figueira Film Art. The festival is sponsored by the director Alberto Seixas Santos , whose parents came from Figueira da Foz. The various venues for the film festival range from the large CAE hall with 832 seats to the Havanesa culture café with 50 seats in the traditional former bookstore Casa Havaneza.

The city produced a number of important film directors, including João César Monteiro, one of the most internationally recognized names in Portuguese film .

Today, current films are shown daily in the multiplex cinema of the Foz Plaza shopping center , while the cultural center Centro de Artes e Espectáculos is dedicated to sophisticated film in its cinema program.

economy

Freight port and Mondego bridge seen from the train station

Important pillars of the local economy are tourism, the yacht, fishing and cargo port, and a little textile and food industry. The meat producer Lusiaves is important here .

The two outside paper mills of Soporcel (since 1984) and the Altri subsidiary Celbi are important for Figueira . The household appliance manufacturer Sorefoz is also one of the most important national companies in the district.

On the south side of the Mondegos a number of companies were once settled, including plants for fish processing, textile mills and the Foznave - shipyards . Some companies are still active today, such as the shipyard, which today belongs to the Atlantic Eagle shipbuilding group and employs 60 people at the Figueira location.

Fishing and salt extraction are traditionally carried out here, but have clearly lost their importance over the years.

Coal was mined at Cabo Mondego until the 1970s , today the Cimpor quarries limestone there to produce calcium oxide on site.

The Saint-Gobain Mondego SA is a resident of Figueira subsidiary of Saint-Gobain , which since 2010 under the brand name Verallia traces its glass divisions. Since 1987 she has owned a glass factory in Fontela in the Figueira district, the former Vidreira da Fontela .

traffic

railroad

The Figueira da Foz railway station is the terminus of the railway line, the Coimbra connects to the Atlantic Ocean. The Ramal da Figueira da Foz line to Pampilhosa and the Linha do Oeste from Lisbon via Leiria also end here .

Horse tram at the harbor, 19th century

Highway

The A14 leads from Coimbra to Figueira da Foz, the A17 leads from Marinha Grande via Figueira da Foz to Aveiro .

Bus network

Figueira da Foz is part of the national bus network of Rede Expressos .

Local public transport

The municipal area is covered by bus routes operated by private companies in municipal concession. The northern Portuguese company AVIC operates three lines, while other lines are served by the Moisés (Moisés Correia da Oliveira) and Tejo companies.

The clock tower on the city beach Praia da Claridade

administration

circle

Figueira da Foz is the seat of a district of the same name ( concelho ) in the Coimbra district . On June 30, 2011 the district had 62,125 inhabitants on an area of ​​379 km².

The neighboring districts are (starting clockwise in the north): Cantanhede , Montemor-o-Velho , Soure , and Pombal , which is connected to the Atlantic Ocean .

The district consisted of 18 communities until 2013. In the run-up to the municipal reorganization of Portugal on September 29, 2013, the municipalities of Brenha and São Julião , and in the course of the actual reorganization, finally also Santana and Borda do Campo, were dissolved and incorporated into other municipalities. Since then, the Figueira da Foz district has been made up of 14 parishes ( Freguesias ):

Figueira da Foz district
local community Population
(2011) 		Area
km² 		Density of
population / km² 		LAU
code
Alhadas 4,757 31.84 149 060519
Alqueidão 1,752 19.66 89 060502
Bom Sucesso 2.133 60.36 35 060515
Buarcos 18,454 15.53 1,188 060520
Ferreira-a-Nova 2,477 27.83 89 060521
Lavos 3,999 42.02 95 060522
Maiorca 2,703 25.14 108 060507
Marinha das Ondas 3,179 27.41 116 060508
Moinhos da Gândara 1,265 10.74 118 060518
Paião 3.115 31.19 100 060523
Quiaios 3,042 52.31 58 060524
Sao Pedro 2,910 7.01 415 060514
Tavarede 9,441 10.71 881 060512
Vila Verde 2,898 17.29 168 060513
Figueira da Foz district 62.125 379.04 164 0605

The closed urban area of ​​Figueira da Foz is formed by Buarcos , Santana , São Julião , São Pedro , Tavarede , and Vila Verde .

Population development

Population in Figueira da Foz district
1801 1849 1900 1930 1960 1981 1991 2001 2008 2011
10 281 8 021 43 032 49 590 57 631 58 559 61 555 62 601 63 135 62 124

Municipal holiday

  • June 24th

Twin cities

Figueira da Foz maintains the following cities a twinning :

UkraineUkraine Yevpatoria , Ukraine
SpainSpain Ciudad Rodrigo , Spain
Cape VerdeCape Verde Praia , Cape Verde
FranceFrance Gradignan , France
MozambiqueMozambique Angoche , Mozambique
PortugalPortugal Mortágua , Portugal
United StatesUnited States New Bedford , United States
FranceFrance Saint-Jean-de-Luz , France (in preparation)
ItalyItaly L'Aquila , Italy (in preparation since 2019)

Personalities

sons and daughters of the town

  • Manuel Fernandes Tomás

  • Joaquim de Carvalho

  • João Gaspar Simões

  • The fado singer Maria Alice in the 30s

  • João César Monteiro

  • Hugo Almeida in the jersey of SV Werder Bremen (2009)

  • Suzy (Susana Guerra) at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014

Personalities associated with the city

The conservative, scandalous politician Pedro Santana Lopes (* 1956 in Lisbon) began his second political career in 1997 when he was elected mayor of Figueira da Foz, which eventually brought him to the office of prime minister.

The writer António Tavares (* 1960 in Angola) lives in the city and is a local politician here. In 2015 he won the Prémio LeYa literary prize for his novel O Coro dos Defuntos .

The popular singer Tony Carreira (* 1963 in Pampilhosa da Serra ) began his career in 1988 at a music competition in Casino Figueira .

Nelson Carrera (* 1961 in Angola), a rockabilly musician, has lived and worked in Figueira da Foz since he left France in 1992.

Alfredo Cardoso de Soveral Martins , a naval officer and high colonial official, was the last local politician in Figueira before he died here in 1938.

Even Maria Olguim , a popular actress in the heyday of the Portuguese film of the 40s, died in 1984 here.

Other personalities who died here:

  • Alfredo Cardoso de Soveral Martins

  • Francisco José Fernandes Costa

  • Tony Carreira

literature

Web links

Commons : Figueira da Foz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 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. ↑ a b www.ine.pt - indicator resident population by place of residence and sex; Decennial in the database of the Instituto Nacional de Estatística
  4. ↑ Isabel Henriques: Figueira da Foz. 1st edition. CMM, Figueira da Foz 2005, p. 15.
  5. ↑ a b História ( Portuguese ) figueiradigital.com. Archived from the original on January 28, 2013. Retrieved October 3, 2015.
  6. ↑ dto.
  7. ^ Ponte Edgar Cardoso “inaugurada pelo povo que a pagou” . ofigueirense.com. March 16, 2012. Archived from the original on July 2, 2012. Retrieved on October 3, 2015.
  8. ↑ António Henrique de Oliveira Marques : History of Portugal and the Portuguese Empire (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 385). Translated from the Portuguese by Michael von Killisch-Horn. Kröner, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-520-38501-5 , p. 331.
  9. ↑ Em Setembro, 125 Anos de Emoções no Casino Figueira ( Portuguese ) ofigueirense.com. September 4, 2009. Archived from the original on July 11, 2012. Retrieved on October 3, 2015.
  10. ↑ O Automovel no Espaco e no tempo . amtc.pt. Archived from the original on April 16, 2013. Retrieved October 3, 2015.
  11. ↑ Website of the Jornal de Notícias , accessed on July 22, 2012
  12. ↑ imdb.com , accessed September 2, 2012
  13. ^ Page of the photo archive on the city's website . figueiradigital.com. Archived from the original on July 27, 2012. Retrieved October 3, 2015.
  14. ↑ Museum page on the German-language website of the European Route of Industrial History , accessed on December 27, 2016
  15. ↑ Casino Figueira website (under Sobre nós / Viage na história ), accessed on September 30, 2013
  16. ^ The cape on the city administration website . figueiradigital.com. Archived from the original on January 28, 2013. Retrieved October 3, 2015.
  17. ↑ The Serra da Boa Viagem on the city council's website . figueiradigital.com. Archived from the original on September 22, 2012. Retrieved October 3, 2015.
  18. ↑ TV report of the public television broadcaster RTP , accessed on September 30, 2013
  19. ^ Festival website , accessed May 20, 2017
  20. ↑ Article on surfersvillage.com . Archived from the original on September 24, 2010. Retrieved October 3, 2015.
  21. ↑ IFCA website (see point 7), accessed on September 30, 2013
  22. ↑ Article on the Portuguese Port Association website . portosdeportugal.pt. June 16, 2011. Archived from the original on September 30, 2013. Retrieved October 3, 2015.
  23. ↑ Article from April 12, 2013 on segelreporter.com, accessed on September 30, 2013
  24. ↑ History of the Ginásio Clube , accessed on September 30, 2013
  25. ^ Club history on the club website ( Memento from January 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on September 30, 2013
  26. ↑ Website of the bike paths Ciclovias da Figueira da Foz . ciclovia.com.pt. Archived from the original on March 18, 2012. Retrieved October 3, 2015.
  27. ↑ Website for the national equestrian competition in the Figueira da Foz equestrian center on the website of the Centro Hípico de Alcaria ( memento of October 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on September 30, 2013
  28. ^ O Figueirense website . ofigueirense.com. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved October 3, 2015.
  29. ↑ Website A Voz da Figueira . avozdafigueira.pt. Archived from the original on January 20, 2011. Retrieved October 3, 2015.
  30. ↑ Article on the television documentary about Figueira da Foz on the website of the GEO magazine , accessed on May 12, 2014
  31. ↑ Page on the history of the FICFF ( Memento of the original from April 18, 2018 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. from the Figueira Film Art Film Festival website, accessed April 22, 2014 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / figueirafilmart.com
  32. ↑ The locations of FigueiraFilmArt 2014 on the website of the Figueira Film Art Film Festival, accessed on April 22, 2014
  33. ↑ www.portucelsoporcel.com , accessed January 10, 2013
  34. ↑ www.top500.de , accessed on January 10, 2013
  35. ↑ Estaleiros Navais da Figueira da Foz constroem 25 barcos para Angola - “Figueira da Foz shipyard builds 25 ships for Angola” , article from November 29, 2014 on www.figueira.tv, accessed on December 14, 2016
  36. ↑ sea salt www.j-lorber.de , accessed on January 10, 2013
  37. ↑ www.progeo.pt , accessed on January 10, 2013
  38. ↑ www.pt.verallia.com , accessed January 10, 2013
  39. ↑ Line plans ( Portuguese ) acesbm2.org. Archived from the original on February 23, 2013. Retrieved October 3, 2015.
  40. ↑ www.avic.pt , accessed January 10, 2013
  41. ↑ Figueira da Foz e município italiano de L'Aquila geminados contra alterações climáticas - "Figueira da Foz and the city council of L'Aquila enter into partnership against climate change" , article in the Portuguese newspaper Diário de Notícias of June 13, 2019, accessed on 26. August 2019