Viana do Castelo

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Viana do Castelo
coat of arms map
Viana do Castelo coat of arms
Viana do Castelo (Portugal)
Viana do Castelo
Basic data
Region : Norte
Sub-region : Alto Minho
District : Viana do Castelo
Concelho : Viana do Castelo
Coordinates : 41 ° 42 ′  N , 8 ° 50 ′  W Coordinates: 41 ° 42 ′  N , 8 ° 50 ′  W
Residents: 88,725 (as of June 30, 2011)
Surface: 319.02 km² (as of January 1, 2010)
Population density : 278 inhabitants per km²
Height: 15  m
Viana do Castelo county
flag map
Flag of Viana do Castelo Location of the district of Viana do Castelo
Residents: 88,725 (as of June 30, 2011)
Surface: 319.02 km² (as of January 1, 2010)
Population density : 278 inhabitants per km²
Number of municipalities : 27
administration
Administration address: Câmara Municipal de Viana do Castelo
Passeio das Mordomas da Romaria
4904-877 Viana do Castelo
Website: www.cm-viana-castelo.pt
Praça da República, one of the most romantic squares in Portugal, with the Renaissance fountain

Viana do Castelo is a city in Portugal and the capital of the district and county of the same name in the Northern Region of Portugal. It is located north of the hose-like mouth of the Rio Lima into the Atlantic .

The place

history

The Iron Age settlement Citânia de Santa Luzia is nearby.

Viana do Castelo was called "Viana da Foz do Lima" ("Viana at the mouth of the Lima River") in 1258 by Alfonso III. (1248–1279) founded. The city soon came to great wealth, which attracted both Spaniards and pirates. Thereupon was still under Alfons III. built the first fortress at the mouth of the Lima that dominated the estuary. The oldest known date results from the XV. Century, when a fortress was built in the southern part of the old bastion under Dom Manuel I , the "Torre da Roqueta". End of the XV. In the 19th century, renovation work became necessary, which was carried out by the then very well-known military building architect , Filippo Terzi , under the Spanish rule of Philip II (Philip I of Portugal). Viana do Castelo received its town charter in 1848 from the Portuguese Queen Maria II .

Praça da República with a Gothic town hall and Renaissance fountain
Museum ship Gil Eannes
Viana do Castelo on the Rio Lima

Attractions

One of the most picturesque medieval squares in Portugal is the Praça da República, which goes back to the art-loving Dom Manuel I. The three-shell Renaissance fountain (1553–1559) by João Lopez-o-Velho is particularly noteworthy . It was copied many times, for example. B. a few years later for the city of Caminha on the south bank of the Rio Minho , on the Portuguese-Spanish border, or in other cities, e.g. B. in Pontevedra in Galicia . For several centuries the fountain not only served as the only source of drinking water, but thanks to its location in front of the old town hall (Paço do Concelho) it was also the meeting point and social center of the city.

The Museu Municipal in Viana do Castelo houses the statue of a warrior from São Paio de Meixedo, (also known as the ' Estátua de Viana ' or 'do Páteo da Morte'), one of the three pieces that Emil Hübner presented in 1861 when he was in northern Portugal the resulting statues of Gaulish warriors . In the museum it is now shown as a sculpture of a warrior of the Castro culture (Escultura de um guerreiro castrejo) with a Latin inscription from the 1st century AD.

The museum ship Gil Eannes is located in the port of the city - a hospital ship built in 1955 that was used until 1973 to support the Portuguese cod fishermen in the North Atlantic .

Town twinning

Viana do Castelo maintains partnerships with numerous cities and municipalities.
The relationships according to are particularly numerous

Further partnerships exist with

Partnership relationships also exist with

sons and daughters of the town

gallery

  • Pictures from Viana do Castelo

  • Viana from the far bank of the Rio Lima

  • Avenida dos Combatentes da Grande Guerra; behind the Monte Santa Luzia with pilgrimage church

  • Casa de João Lopes-o-Velho (15th century), now the City History Museum

  • Partial view of the surrounding wall of the old Castelo de São Tiago da Barra ("Rochetta")

  • Monument on the Rochetta for the 150th anniversary of the granting of city rights to Viana

  • Pilgrimage church on Monte Santa Luzia

  • Interior of the pilgrimage church on Monte Santa Luzia

  • Church with azulejos jewelry in the district of Santa Luzia

  • Igreja da Senhora da Agonia

The circle

administration

Viana do Castelo is the seat of a district of the same name. The neighboring areas are (starting clockwise from the north): Caminha , Ponte de Lima , Barcelos and Esposende . In the west, the Atlantic Ocean delimits the municipality.

With the regional reform in September 2013 , several municipalities were merged to form new municipalities, so that the number of municipalities decreased from 40 to 28.

The following municipalities ( freguesias ) are in the county of Viana do Castelo:

Viana do Castelo county
local community Population
(2011) 		Area
km² 		Density of
population / km² 		LAU
code
Afife 1,632 13.03 125 160901
Alvarães 2,623 9.11 288 160902
Amonde 293 6.25 47 160903
Areosa 4,853 14.11 344 160905
Barroselas e Carvoeiro 5,031 18.68 269 160941
Cardielos e Serreleis 2,312 7.68 301 160942
Carreço 1,759 14.20 124 160908
Castelo do Neiva 2,930 6.94 422 160910
Chafé 2,841 7.85 362 160940
Darque 7,817 9.01 867 160911
Freixieiro de Soutelo 511 11.78 43 160914
Geraz do Lima e Deão 3,339 19.06 175 160943
Lanheses 1,645 9.60 171 160915
Mazarefes e Vila Fria 2,670 10.28 260 160944
Montaria 549 22.43 24 160920
Mujães 1,550 4.90 316 160922
Neiva 1,225 7.02 174 160923
Nogueira, Meixedo e Vilar de Murteda 1,597 27.41 58 160945
Outeiro 1,234 18.83 66 160925
Lock 2,956 13.09 226 160926
Santa Marta de Portuzelo 3,805 7.41 513 160928
Subportela, Deocriste e Portela Susã 2,552 17.10 149 160946
Torre e Vila Mou 1,181 6.35 186 160947
Viana do Castelo e Meadela 25,375 14.32 1,771 160948
Vila de Punhe 2,273 6.03 377 160938
Vila Franca 1,757 7.15 246 160935
Vila Nova de Anha 2,415 9.40 257 160904
Viana do Castelo county 88,725 319.02 278 1609

Population development

year 1801 1849 1900 1930 1960 1981 1991 2001 2004
Residents 17,889 36,084 47,311 53,380 75,320 81.009 83,095 88,631 90,654

Abolition of bullfights

In 2009, Viana do Castelo was the first Portuguese municipality to abolish bullfighting on the grounds of cruelty to animals. On August 19, 2012, the city of Areosa, part of Viana do Castelo, was forced by the court to host a bullfighting event, although the local council tried to prevent it. Defense attorney Moura, mayor at the time the bullfighting ban was approved, criticized the court for making a "scandalous decision".

literature

Web links

Commons : Viana do Castelo  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikivoyage: Viana do Castelo  - travel guide

City page on cm-viana-castelo.pt

swell

  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. ^ Emil Huebner: Statues of Gallaean warriors in Portugal and Galicia . In: Archäologische Zeitung , Vol. 19 (1861), No. 154, Col. 185–195.
  4. ↑ Source: Viana do Castelo website
  5. ^ Publication of the administrative reorganization in the Diário da República gazette of January 28, 2013, accessed on March 16, 2014
  6. ^ [1] Sell-out bullfight held in Viana do Castelo against council's will
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