Elvas

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Script error: No such module "other uses". Template:Expand Portuguese Template:Infobox Portuguese subdivisionTemplate:Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site Elvas (Script error: No such module "IPA".), officially the City of Elvas (Template:Langx), is a Portuguese municipality, former episcopal city and frontier fortress of easternmost central Portugal, located in the district of Portalegre in Alentejo. It is situated about Template:Convert east of Lisbon, and about Template:Convert west of the Spanish fortress of Badajoz, by the Madrid-Badajoz-Lisbon railway. The municipality population Template:As of was 23,078,[1] in an area of Template:Convert.[2] The city itself had a population of 16,640 Template:As of.[3]

Elvas is among the finest examples of intensive usage of the trace italienne (star fort) in military architecture, and has been a World Heritage Site since 30Template:NbspJune 2012. The inscribed site name is Garrison Border Town of Elvas and its Fortifications.

History

Elvas lies on a hill Template:Convert northwest of the Guadiana river. The Amoreira Aqueduct, Template:Convert long, supplies the city with clean water; it was begun early in the 15th century and completed in 1622. For some distance it includes four tiers of superimposed arches, with a total height of Template:Convert.Template:Sfn

The city was wrested from the Moors by Afonso I of Portugal in 1166 but was temporarily recaptured before its final occupation by the Portuguese in 1226. In 1570 it became an episcopal see, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Elvas, until 1818. The late Gothic Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral, which has many traces of Moorish influence in its architecture, dates from the reign of Manuel I of Portugal (1495–1521).Template:Sfn

It was defended by seven bastions and the two forts of Santa Luzia and the Nossa Senhora da Graça Fort.Template:Sfn From 1642 it was the chief frontier fortress south of the Tagus, which withstood sieges by the Spanish in 1659, 1711, and 1801.Template:Sfn Elvas was the site of the Battle of the Lines of Elvas in 1659, during which the garrison and citizens of the city assisted in the rout of a Spanish Army.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". The Napoleonic French under Marshal Junot took it in March 1808 during the Peninsular War, but evacuated it in August after the conclusion of the Convention of Sintra.Template:Sfn The fortress of Campo Maior Template:Convert to the northeast is known for its Napoleonic era siege by the French and relief by the British under Marshal Beresford in 1811, an exploit commemorated in a ballad by Sir Walter Scott.Template:Sfn

UNESCO site

The Garrison Border Town of Elvas and its Fortifications were added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2012.[4]

The site, extensively fortified from the 17th to 19th centuries, represents the largest bulwarked dry ditch system in the world. Within its walls, the town contains barracks and other military buildings as well as churches and monasteries. While Elvas contains remains dating back to the 10th century, its fortification began during the Portuguese Restoration War. The fortifications played a major role in the Battle of the Lines of Elvas in 1659. The fortifications were designed by Dutch Jesuit Padre João Piscásio Cosmander and represent the best surviving example of the Dutch school of fortifications anywhere. The site consists the following:

  1. Amoreira Aqueduct, built to withstand long sieges.
  2. Historic Centre
  3. Fort of Santa Luzia and the covered way
  4. Nossa Senhora da Graça Fort
  5. Fortlet of São Mamede
  6. Template:Ill
  7. Fortlet of São Domingos

Climate

Elvas has a hot summer mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa) with mild winters, although occasionally temperatures may drop below Template:Cvt and very hot, dry summers, where temperatures occasionally exceed Template:Cvt. Elvas climate is quite similar to that of Badajoz, being slightly cooler and more humid due to its higher altitude and greater influence from the Atlantic Ocean.[5] Precipitation varies from Template:Cvt throughout the year, with an average of about Template:Cvt annually. It is one of the hottest cities in Portugal during the summer, with an average maximum temperature close to Template:Cvt. Template:Weather box

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Civil parishes

Administratively, the municipality is divided in seven civil parishes (freguesias):[6]

  • Assunção, Ajuda, Salvador e Santo Ildefonso
  • Barbacena e Vila Fernando
  • Caia, São Pedro e Alcáçova
  • Santa Eulália
  • São Brás e São Lourenço
  • São Vicente e Ventosa
  • Terrugem e Vila Boim

Notable people

File:Conde de Bonfim.png
José Travassos Valdez, Conde de Bonfim, circa 1850

Sister cities

References

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  1. ↑ Instituto Nacional de Estatística
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ UMA POPULAÇÃO QUE SE URBANIZA, Uma avaliação recente – Cidades, 2004 Template:Webarchive Nuno Pires Soares, Instituto Geográfico Português (Geographic Institute of Portugal)
  4. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  6. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ Raquel Guerra, IMDb Database retrieved 16 July 2021.

External links

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