Elvas

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Elvas
Municipality
Flag Coat of arms
Coordinates: 38°52′N 7°09′W / 38.867°N 7.150°W / 38.867; -7.150Coordinates: 38°52′N 7°09′W / 38.867°N 7.150°W / 38.867; -7.150
Country	Portugal
Region	Alentejo
Intermunic. comm.	Alto Alentejo
District	Portalegre
Parishes	7
Government
• President	Dr. Nuno Miguel Fernandes Mocinha (PS)
Area
• Total	631.29 km2 (243.74 sq mi)
Population  (2011)
• Total	23,078
• Density	37/km2 (95/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC±00:00 (WET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+01:00 (WEST)
Local holiday	January 14
Website	http://www.cm-elvas.pt

Elvas (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈɛlvɐʃ] (listen)) 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 200 kilometres (120 mi) east of Lisbon, and about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) west of the Spanish fortress of Badajoz, by the Madrid-Badajoz-Lisbon railway. The municipality population as of 2011 was 23,078,^[1] in an area of 631.29 square kilometres (243.74 sq mi).^[2] The city itself had a population of 16,640 as of 2011.^[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 30 June 2012. The inscribed site name is Garrison Border Town of Elvas and its Fortifications.

History[]

Elvas lies on a hill 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) northwest of the Guadiana river. The Amoreira Aqueduct 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) long supplies the city with pure 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 40 metres (130 ft).^[4]

Elvas

UNESCO World Heritage Site
Walls and fortifications of Elvas
Official name	Garrison Border Town of Elvas and its Fortifications
Criteria	Cultural: (iv)
Reference	1367bis
Inscription	2012 (36th Session)
Extensions	2013
Area	179.356 ha (443.20 acres)
Buffer zone	690 ha (1,700 acres)

It 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).^[4]

It was defended by seven bastions and the two forts of Santa Luzia and the Nossa Senhora da Graça Fort.^[4] From 1642 it was the chief frontier fortress south of the Tagus, which withstood sieges by the Spanish in 1659, 1711, and 1801.^[5] 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^[5] The fortress of Campo Maior 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) 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.^[4]

The Garrison Border Town of Elvas and its Fortifications were added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2012.^[6]

Climate[]

Civil Parishes[]

Administratively, the municipality is divided in seven civil parishes (freguesias):^[9]

• 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

Sister cities[]

• Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain
• Olivenza, Extremadura, Spain
• Campo Maior, Alentejo, Portugal

Notable people[]

José Travassos Valdez, Conde de Bonfim, circa 1850

• Manuel Rodrigues Coelho (ca. 1555 – 1635) a Portuguese organist and composer.
• João de Fontes Pereira de Melo (1780–1856) a politician, a general and twice colonial governor of Cape Verde
• José Travassos Valdez, 1st Count of Bonfim (1787–1862) a Portuguese soldier and statesman.
• Fortunato José Barreiros (1797–1885) a colonial governor of Cape Verde and military architect.
• Adelaide Cabete (1867–1935) a Portuguese feminist and republican.
• Virgínia Quaresma (1882–1973) an early radical, feminist, lesbian journalist
• Sofia Pomba Guerra (1906–1976) a feminist, opponent of the Estado Novo government in Portugal and an activist in the anti-colonial movements of Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau.
• José António Rondão Almeida (born 1945) a Portuguese politician & Mayor of Elvas
• Toni Vidigal (born 1975), Jorge Vidigal (born 1978) & André Vidigal (born 1998) Angolan football brothers
• Raquel Guerra (born 1985) a Portuguese singer and actress.^[10]
• Henrique Sereno (born 1985) a Portuguese former footballer with 236 club caps

Gallery[]

• 

  Entrance of the Municipal Library of Elvas

• 

  A pillory in the city of Elvas

• 

  Elvas Station

• 

  Typical features

• 

  Castle of Elvas

• 

  City walls

• 

  Castle of Elvas

• 

  Elvas, Portugal

• 

  Amoreira Aqueduct

• 

  Square of Santa Clara

• 

  Elvas, Alentejo

• 

  Monument commemorating the 1659 Battle of the Lines of Elvas

References[]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Elvas". Encyclopædia Britannica. 9 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 300–301.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Elvas.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Elvas.