Montemor-o-Velho

Montemor-o-Velho
coat of arms map
Basic data
Region :	Centro
Sub-region :	Region of Coimbra
District :	Coimbra
Concelho :	Montemor-o-Velho
Coordinates :	40 ° 10 ′  N , 8 ° 41 ′  W Coordinates: 40 ° 10 ′  N , 8 ° 41 ′  W
Residents:	3151 (as of June 30, 2011)
Surface:	25.41 km² (as of January 1, 2010)
Population density :	124 inhabitants per km²
Postal code :	3140-271
politics
Mayor :	António Correia Pardal Bispo ( PSD )
Address of the municipal administration:	Junta de Freguesia de Montemor-o-Velho Rua Dr. José Galvão, 134 3140-271 Montemor-o-Velho
Montemor-o-Velho district
flag map
Residents:	26,171 (as of June 30, 2011)
Surface:	228.97 km² (as of January 1, 2010)
Population density :	114 inhabitants per km²
Number of municipalities :	11
administration
Administration address:	Câmara Municipal de Montemor-o-Velho Praça da República 3140-258 Montemor-o-Velho
President of the Câmara Municipal:	Emílio Torrão ( PS )
Website:	www.cm-montemorvelho.pt

Montemor-o-Velho is a small town (vila) in Portugal , it is about halfway between Figueira da Foz and Coimbra . In the Middle Ages , the city, which lies on a hill above the right bank of the Mondego , was a strategic defensive post against the Moors who advanced from the Estremadura towards Coimbra. Today it is internationally known as a sports base, especially for rowing, and the CITEMOR theater festival and the medieval market are known nationwide .

View of Montemor-o-Velho, from the north-west

history

Not far from the archaeological site of Santa Olaia , traces of human settlement go back to the Iron Age . Some historians believe that the place was called Miróbriga 400/500 BC , making it one of the oldest places on the Iberian Peninsula . Others say it was the Arcedóbriga or Acedóbriga , which was renamed Manlianense by its master Manlio . There is evidence of trade contacts with the Phoenicians and Carthage . In Montemor-o-Velho ("Monte-mor", Eng. "Higher Hill") remains of a Roman villa rustica and a Jupiter column were found, as well as graves and coins from the 4th century.

The Castelo de Montemor-o-Velho as seen from the north

With the conquest of large parts of the Iberian Peninsula from 711 onwards, the Moors also came to the then important river shipping port on the Mondego. They called the place Munt Malur . It was conquered by Christians for the first time in 848, by King Ramiro I. The place fought off the siege that took place in the same year by the troops of Abd ar-Rahman II . Alfons III conquered Coimbra in 878 and settled along the river bank. On December 2, 990, Almansor recaptured the fortifications of Montemor. After a renewed reconquest, the place fell back to the Arabs in 1026 , from whom Gonçalo Trastamires took it back in 1034. After repeated Arab attacks, Fernando Magno was able to finally recapture Coimbra and the entire area up to the Mondego and surrender to Montemor Sesnando Davides , a Mozarab from Tentúgal . In 1091 the place was known as Montemaior, and Raimundo I ordered its increased settlement in 1095, now part of a line of fortifications against the Moors along the border river Mondego. King Sancho I renamed Montemor to Montemor-o-Velho ("Montemor the Elder") in 1203, in contrast to the town of Montemor-o-Novo ("Montemor the Newer") in the Alentejo, which was conquered by the Moors .

On January 6, 1355, King Alfonso IV made the tragic decision to have Inês de Castro killed in the castle of Montemor-o-Velho .

After the introduction of maize , which had arrived from America in the middle of the 16th century, its cultivation in the fields by the river gave the town an economic boom that lasted around 200 years, during which the work of the city's most famous sons fell (see “Sons and Daughters of City"). After that, Montemor lost its importance, especially in favor of Figueira da Foz . The introduction of rice cultivation at the beginning of the 19th century brought about a new economic boom.

Sights and culture

The castle complex Castelo de Montemor-o-Velho with its Manueline church Igreja de Santa Maria da Alcáçova and the completely surrounding, double and crenellated wall are worth seeing and also offer wide views over the rice fields and landscapes along the Mondego. Narrow streets lined with gardens and orange trees run below the castle.

The former market hall on Rathausplatz houses a modern art gallery.

The monastery church Nossa Senhora dos Anjos , located on the outskirts, offers not only its Renaissance chapels but also a tomb for the navigator Diogo de Azambuja which is well worth seeing .

The Europaradise is a private zoo that shows a variety of animals. In addition to native and exotic birds, there are also a number of mostly African mammals, including tigers , zebras and various species of monkeys .

In the Reserva Natural do Paul de Arzila nature reserve, educational and hiking trails criss- cross the wetland and its trees, and in the Paúl do Taipal bird sanctuary you can watch hibernating migratory birds on guided tours. These are two of the few preserved areas of the local primeval landscape.

Since 1978, the international theater festival CITEMOR with a large cultural program has been held every summer in the castle and everywhere in town . One of the main organizers is CITEC, the most important theater group in the area, which is based in the local theater "Esther de Carvalho" (founded in 1883). In the castle also is a medieval market Montemor Mediaval organized.

Every year on September 8th, the city's public holiday, the Feira Anual or Feira das Cebolas , the “onion market”, takes place. It is a combination of an industrial and agricultural fair, a gastronomy show and a folk festival.

The PS office in the historic town center

A weekly market has been held every 2 weeks for at least 80 years .

politics

In the 2013 local elections, the Socialist Party (PS) won the town hall of Montemor-o-Velho back with 40.5%. The previously ruling PSD / CDS coalition fell to 36%, the joint list of the Communist Party (PCP) and the Greens (PEV) received 11.1%, the environmental and agricultural party Partido da Terra (MPT) came down to 4, 1%, and the left bloco de Esquerda (BE) to 2%.

The town hall of Montemor-o-Velho has been ruled mainly by the PS since 1976, the first local election after the Carnation Revolution in 1974. In 1989 the PSD won the town hall, which it lost again to the PS in 1993, and regained it in 2001 in coalition with the CDS and retained it until 2013.

administration

circle

Montemor-o-Velho is the seat of a district of the same name ( concelho ) in the Coimbra district , with the corresponding facilities (district administration, hospital, fire department , Guarda Nacional Republicana , school center, banks, industrial area). On June 30, 2011, the district had 26,171 inhabitants on an area of ​​229 km².

The neighboring districts are (starting clockwise in the north): Cantanhede , Coimbra , Condeixa-a-Nova , Soure and Figueira da Foz .

With the regional reform in September 2013 , several municipalities were merged into new municipalities, so that their number decreased from 14 to eleven.

The following municipalities ( Freguesias ) are in the Montemor-o-Velho district:

Montemor-o-Velho district

local community	Population (2011)	Area km²	Density of population / km²	LAU code
Abrunheira, Verride e Vila Nova da Barca	1,515	29.50	51	061015
Arazede	5,508	53.45	103	061002
Carapinheira	2,898	15.90	182	061003
Ereira	649	7.25	90	061014
Liceia	1,254	12.69	99	061005
Meas do Campo	1,853	9.74	190	061006
Montemor-o-Velho e Gatões	3,670	31.06	118	061016
Pereira	3,265	12.34	265	061008
Santo Varão	1,969	11.85	166	061009
Seixo de Gatoes	1,449	10.90	133	061010
Tentúgal	2.141	34.29	62	061011
Montemor-o-Velho district	26,171	228.97	114	0610

Population development

Population in the Montemor-o-Velho district (1801–2011)
1801	1849	1900	1930	1960	1981	1991	2001	2011
9,528	6,345	22,361	25.162	27,925	27,274	26,375	25,478	26,214

Municipal holiday

• September 8th

Twin cities

•  France : Cerizay in the Deux-Sèvres department (since 1988)
•  Portugal : Vila Real de Santo António (since 1994)
•  Brazil : São José dos Pinhais (since 1997)

traffic

The Montemor train station, located just outside, is a stop on the Ramal de Alfarelos railway line .

The place is on the A14 motorway and the N111 national road.

Rowing in Montemor-o-Velho

Bus routes in particular from the Moisés company (Moisés Correia de Oliveira) ensure local public transport in the district, with connections to Figueira da Foz and Coimbra.

Sports

The municipality of Montemor-o-Velho maintains an important sports base with the Centro de Alto Rendimento (CAR) of the Portuguese Canoe Association Federação Portuguesa de Canoagem . In particular, the Céntro Náutico with its rowing regatta course that meets international standards should be mentioned. Here u. a. the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in 2018 , the Canoe Championships in 2013 and the European Rowing Championships 2010 held. The CAR also includes an athletics facility ( Pista de Atletismo ) and a youth hostel ( Pousada da Juventude ).

The Triathlon Association ( Federação de Triatlo de Portugal ) also has its center of excellence (CAR) in Montemor-o-Velho.

sons and daughters of the town

• Cavalheiro Diogo de Azambuja (1432–1518), navigator and first governor ( capitão-mór ) of Elmina .
• Fernão Mendes Pinto (1510–1583), explorer, he traveled to Arabia, Africa, China, India and came as far as Japan, as a writer he described his travels in great detail.
• Jorge de Montemor (1520 / 24–1561), singer, translator and poet in the traveling band of the later King Philip II , inventor of the Castilian shepherd novel and shepherd poems that had an impact across Europe.
• João de São José (unknown – 1580), monastery ruler and author
• António Correia da Fonseca e Andrade (1648–1717) capitão-mór of Montemor-o-Velho, important historian
• Francisco de Pina e Melo (1695–1773), Catholic writer and poet
• Esther de Carvalho (1858–1884), actress and artistic director
• Manuel Jardim (1883–1923), painter
• Afonso Duarte (1884–1958), writer
• António Rama (1944-2013), actor

Web links

Commons : Montemor-o-Velho  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Map of the Freguesia Montemor-o-Velho at the Instituto Geográfico do Exército
• Official website of the city administration
• Map of the circle

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. ^ João Fonseca: Dicionário do Nome das Terras . 2nd edition, Casa das Letras, Cruz Quebrada 2007, page 170 ( ISBN 978-9724617305 )
5. ↑ website of Euro Paradise -Tiergartens , accessed on June 24, 2015
6. ↑ The Europaradise Zoo on TripAdvisor , accessed on June 24, 2015
7. ↑ Graphic on the 2013 election results in the Montemor-o-Velho district ( Memento of the original from October 7, 2015 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. of the Público newspaper , accessed on March 9, 2014 
8. ^ Publication of the administrative reorganization in the Diário da República gazette of January 28, 2013, accessed on March 16, 2014
9. ↑ www.anmp.pt , accessed December 27, 2012
10. ↑ Website for the Centro de Alto Rendimento ( Memento of the original from October 25, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. of the municipality of Montemor-o-Velho, accessed on March 9, 2014 
11. ↑ Page on the Triathlon Performance Center Montemor-o-Velho ( Memento of the original from March 9, 2014 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. on the association website, accessed on March 9, 2014