Tavira

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Tavira
coat of arms map
Tavira coat of arms
Tavira (Portugal)
Tavira
Basic data
Region : Algarve
Sub-region : Algarve
District : Faro
Concelho : Tavira
Coordinates : 37 ° 7 ′  N , 7 ° 39 ′  W Coordinates: 37 ° 7 ′  N , 7 ° 39 ′  W
Residents: 26,167 (as of June 30, 2011)
Surface: 606.96 km² (as of January 1, 2010)
Population density : 43 inhabitants per km²
Postal code : 8801-003-8804-003
Tavira county
flag map
Flag of Tavira Location of the district of Tavira
Residents: 26,167 (as of June 30, 2011)
Surface: 606.96 km² (as of January 1, 2010)
Population density : 43 inhabitants per km²
Number of municipalities : 6th
administration
Administration address: Câmara Municipal de Tavira
Praça da República
880-951 Tavira
President of the Câmara Municipal: Jorge Manuel Nascimento Botelho ( PS )
Website: www.cm-tavira.pt

Tavira [ tɐˈviɾɐ ] is a city and a district ( concelho ) in Portugal with 26,167 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2011).

history

Bridge from 1655, rebuilt in 1870

The settlement goes back to Phoenicians or Carthaginians . The Romans later settled in nearby Balsa (in the municipality of Santa Luzia ). Two kilometers away, in the village of Santa Luzia, the remains of a Roman cemetery have been found. It is from there that the only pre-Christian Greek inscription in Portugal comes from, which indicates a Greek colony in the 4th century BC. Delivered.

Like almost the entire Iberian Peninsula, Tavira was conquered by Moors from 711 onwards . It became part of the Caliphate of Cordoba from 756 . A highly developed culture developed, as the latest excavations suggest. In the 11th century Tavira was part of the Moorish emirate of Badajoz, in the middle of the 12th century it was even briefly independent under the Moors Umar before it fell under Moroccan rule.

Dom Paio Peres Correia and the Knightly Order of Santiago took the city on June 11, 1242 on behalf of King Sancho II . Since - according to a legend - seven knights were killed during a truce while hunting by Moors from Tavira, the city was almost completely destroyed when they were captured and the church of Santa Maria do Castelo was built in place of the mosque . In 1415 the Portuguese began their conquest of Ceuta from here. Tavira was granted city rights in 1520. As early as 1451, fishermen were given the privilege of being able to sell their catch anywhere. In addition, only they were allowed to harvest corals and go whaling.

In the 16th century, Tavira became the most important port in the Algarve with the importation of a considerable part of the goods imported from the Portuguese colonies. The Misericordia church, which is particularly richly decorated with azulejos , dates from this time . In the 17th century Tavira lived to a large extent from the trade in wine, salt, dried fruits and dried fish.

In 1645 the plague raged in the city for a year. 4,000 to 5,000 residents fell victim to it. From the middle of the century, the river, at the mouth of which Tavira lies, the Rio Gilão, began to increasingly silt up. The economically and politically leading city of the Algarve gradually lost its access to the river. It had to cede its priority in favor of Faro around 1700.

In 1755 the Lisbon earthquake devastated Tavira. The castle was also destroyed in the process. The absolutist Prime Minister Marqués de Pombal and the Bishop of Faro directed the reconstruction of the city. However, the city did not recover from the economic decline despite government support. The Misericordia church received a gilded pulpit in 1760.

The relocation of the schools of tuna made Tavira continue to lose importance from 1920 onwards. In 1881, 43,000 specimens of tuna were caught in the Algarve; in the 1960s only around 500 per season. In the early 1970s, gillnet fishing in the estuary ceased. The old tuna fishing station is now a luxury hotel.

The overfishing of sardines off the coast caused the fishery to continue to decline. Today Tavira is a city whose economy is heavily dependent on tourism. The city center has been restored and numerous buildings have been converted into hotels.

and display information about the image
Panoramic view of Tavira today as seen from the castle

Attractions

Calçada da Galeria alley

The seven-arch so-called Roman Bridge from 1655, destroyed after the earthquake, was rebuilt in 1870. It leads to the Praça da República . There is the town hall with late medieval arcades .

Garden in the castle ruins

The castle on the hill is of Moorish origin. It was strengthened under King Dinis in the 13th century. Today there is a garden between the ruins of the wall. From the top of the walls and the remains of the tower you have a panoramic view of the city and the river mouth.

On the way to the fortress is the Igreja da Misericórdia , built in 1541 , which has a harmoniously designed Renaissance facade by André Pilarte . Above the entrance portal are the figures of Saints Peter and Paul and María da Misericórdia (Mercy). Inside the church is decorated with blue and white azulejo pictures.

There is a camera obscura in the former water tower on the top of the hill . It offers a panoramic view of the city and an exhibition on the city's history.

Next to the castle ruins is the Igreja Santa Maria do Castelo . It was built on the foundations of a mosque. The Gothic portal, a Gothic window and the Manueline Capela dos Passos have been preserved in their original form. The remaining parts of the church were destroyed in the earthquake in 1755 and then rebuilt. The clock tower with the Arabic double window is reminiscent of the Moorish period. In the chancel there are tomb slabs that commemorate Dom Paio Peres Correia and the seven Christian knights who were killed.

The Igreja de Santiago , a little below, was originally a mosque. Over the centuries it has been redesigned again and again. The white plastered building presents itself nowadays as a lively structure with nested extensions and a landscape of sloping roofs. The southern main facade is adorned with a representation of St. Jacob ( Santiago ) on horseback as a moonslayer.

Roof construction in the Palácio da Galeria

The Palácio da Galeria is a renovated Renaissance palace. Finds from the Phoenician era are presented in the entrance area. The remaining rooms are dedicated to changing exhibitions of mostly contemporary art. Above you can easily explore the traditional roof structures of the city: each room has its own roof structure.

The former Moorish quarter extends southwest of the castle. It was originally outside the city walls. A Moorish community lived there for centuries after the Christian reconquest.

On the upstream sand dune Ilha de Tavira there is a lively bathing activity in summer. However, the extensive beach offers so much space that it is hardly ever too crowded, even during the high season. A ferry takes guests from Quatro Águas to the shadowless beach. In addition to a campsite and a few holiday homes, there is also the Algarve's only official nudist beach.

Sports

The sports club Ginásio Clube de Tavira , founded in 1928, initially devoted itself to rowing, gymnastics, football and tennis. Swimming, sailing, roller hockey, sport fishing and cycling were added. In particular in cycling, the club achieved some successes, in addition to placements in the Tour of Portugal , the club won the Volta ao Estado de São Paulo , the tour of the Brazilian state of São Paulo, in 1964 and 1965 . The club now only operates its football departments. The professional team was promoted to the fourth Portuguese league in 1992 , but is now playing under-class again.

The cycling club Clube de Ciclismo de Tavira was founded in 1979 and is the oldest unchanged cycling club in the world. David Blanco won the Tour of Portugal in 2008 for the club.

The 2009 World Indoor Cycling Championships took place in Tavira.

administration

Aerial view of Tavira

circle

Map of the district of Tavira with its parishes

Tavira is the administrative seat of a district of the same name. The neighboring areas are (starting clockwise in the north): Alcoutim , Castro Marim , Vila Real de Santo António , Olhão , São Brás de Alportel , Loulé and the Atlantic Ocean.

With the territorial reform of 2013 , six of the previous municipalities were merged into three new municipalities:

Tavira county
local community Population
(2011) 		Area
km² 		Density of
population / km² 		LAU
code
Cachopo 716 203.53 4th 081401
Conceição e Cabanas de Tavira 2,519 69.44 36 081410
Luz de Tavira e Santo Estêvão 4,535 59.91 76 081411
Santa Catarina da Fonte do Bispo 1,809 117.59 15th 081404
Santa Luzia 1,455 8.50 171 081408
Tavira (Santa Maria e Santiago) 15,133 147.99 102 081412
Tavira county 26,167 606.96 43 0814

Population development

Population in Tavira County (1801–2011)
1801 1849 1900 1930 1940 1960 1981 1991 2001 2011
10 557 14 162 25 392 27 786 28 920 27 798 24 615 24 857 24 997 26 167

Municipal holiday

  • June 24th

Town twinning

traffic

The place is connected to Lagos , Faro and Vila Real de Santo António by the Linha do Algarve railway line .

Tavira is connected to the A22 motorway (here also European route 1 ), which runs 4 km to the north, via the national road N270 .

Tavira is part of the Rede Expressos national bus network.

Diogo de Mendonça Corte Real

sons and daughters of the town

literature

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c 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. ↑ Müller, Michael: Algarve . 7th edition. Michael Müller Verlag, Erlangen 2011, ISBN 978-3-89953-599-0 , p. 93 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h Müller, Michael: Algarve . 7th edition. Michael Müller Verlag, Erlangen 2011, ISBN 978-3-89953-599-0 , p. 92-95 .
  5. ^ Article from August 5, 2010 by the public broadcaster Antena 1 , accessed on August 19, 2013
  6. ↑ www.anmp.pt , accessed on August 19, 2013