| Type: | municipality | ||||||||||
| Official Name: | Évora | ||||||||||
| Flag Border: | no | ||||||||||
| Coordinates: | 38.5667°N -61°W | ||||||||||
| Region: | Alentejo | ||||||||||
| Cim: | Alentejo Central | ||||||||||
| District: | Évora | ||||||||||
| Leader Party: | CDU | ||||||||||
| Leader Name: | Carlos Pinto de Sá | ||||||||||
| Area Total Km2: | 1307.08 | ||||||||||
| Population Total: | 53591 | ||||||||||
| Population As Of: | 2021 | ||||||||||
| Parishes: | 12 | ||||||||||
| Holiday: | Saint Peter 29 June | ||||||||||
| Website: |
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Évora ([1] [2] pronounced as /pt/) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. It has 53,591 inhabitants (2021), in an area of 1307.08km2.[3] It is the historic capital of the Alentejo and serves as the seat of the Évora District.
Due to its well-preserved old town centre, still partially enclosed by medieval walls, and many monuments dating from various historical periods, including a Roman Temple, Évora is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Due to its inland position, Évora is one of Portugal's hottest cities in the summer, frequently subject to heatwaves.
Évora is ranked number two in the Portuguese most livable cities survey of living conditions published yearly by Expresso.[4] It was ranked first in a study concerning competitiveness of the 18 Portuguese district capitals, according to a 2006 study made by University of Minho economics researchers.[5]
Along with Liepāja, Latvia, Évora was chosen to be European Capital of Culture in 2027.[6]
Évora has a history dating back more than five millennia.
It was known as Ebora by the Celtici, a tribal confederacy, south of the Lusitanians (and of Tagus river), who made the town their regional capital.
The etymological origin of the name Ebora is from the ancient Celtic word ebora/ebura, the genitive plural form of the word eburos (yew), the name of a species of tree, so its name means "of the yew trees." The city of York, in northern England, at the time of the Roman Empire, was called Eboracum/Eburacum, after the ancient Celtic place name *Eborakon (Place of Yew Trees), so the old name of York is etymologically related to the city of Évora.[7] Alternative hypotheses are that the name is derived from oro, aurum, (gold) [8] as the Romans had extensive gold mining in Portugal; or it may have been named after ivory workers because ebur (genitive eboris) was Latin for ivory.It may have been capital of the kingdom of Astolpas.[9]
See Ebora Liberalitas Julia for more on Roman Évora.
The Romans conquered the town in 57 BC and expanded it into a walled town. Vestiges from this period (city walls and ruins of Roman baths) remain.Julius Caesar called it Liberalitas Julia (Julian generosity). The city grew in importance because it lay at the junction of several important routes. During his travels through Gaul and Lusitania, Pliny the Elder also visited this town and mentioned it in his book Naturalis Historia as Ebora Cerealis, because of its many surrounding wheat fields. In those days, Évora became a flourishing city. Its high rank among municipalities in Roman Hispania is clearly shown by many inscriptions and coins. The monumental Corinthian temple in the centre of the town dates from the first century and was probably erected in honour of emperor Augustus. In the fourth century, the town had already a bishop, named Quintianus.
During the barbarian invasions, Évora came under the rule of the Visigothic king Leovigild in 584. The town was later raised to the status of a cathedral city. Nevertheless, this was a time of decline and very few artifacts from this period remain.
In 715, the city was conquered by the Moors under Tariq ibn-Ziyad. During the Moorish rule (715–1165), the town, part of the Taifa of Badajoz, slowly began to prosper again and developed into an agricultural center with a fortress and a mosque. The Moorish influence can still be observed in the character of the historical city. During that time, several notables hailed from Évora, including Abd al-Majid ibn Abdun Al-Yaburi عبد المجيد بن عبدون اليابري, a poet whose diwan still survives to this day.[10]
See also: Portugal in the Reconquista. Évora was wrested from the Moors through a surprise attack by Gerald the Fearless (Geraldo Sem Pavor) in September 1165. The town came under the rule of the Portuguese king Afonso I in 1166. The last documented mention of a Muslim attempt to regain the city was in 1181 when Almohad forces briefly besieged the city for two days. It then flourished as one of the most dynamic cities in the Kingdom of Portugal during the Middle Ages, especially in the 15th century. The court of the first and second dynasties resided here for long periods, constructing palaces, monuments, and religious buildings. Évora became the scene for many royal weddings and a site where many important decisions were made.
Particularly thriving during the Avis Dynasty (1385–1580), especially under the reign of Manuel I and John III, Évora became a major centre for the humanities (André de Resende - buried in the cathedral) and artists, such as the sculptor Nicolau Chanterene; the painters Cristóvão de Figueiredo and Gregório Lopes; the composers Manuel Cardoso and Duarte Lobo; the chronicler Duarte Galvão; and the father of Portuguese drama, Gil Vicente.
Remnants of the famed Moorish rule remained in Évora. Nicolas Cleynaerts, a Flemish tutor at the Portuguese court, exclaimed in 1535 that "In Évora, it was as if I had been carried off to a city in hell: everywhere I only meet blacks."
The city became the seat of an archbishopric in 1540. The university was founded by the Jesuits in 1559, and it was here that great European Masters such as the Flemish humanists Clenardus (1493–1542), Johannes Vasaeus (Jan Was) (1511–1561) and the theologian Luis de Molina passed on their knowledge. In the 18th century, the Jesuits, who had spread intellectual and religious enlightenment since the 16th century, were expelled from Portugal, the university was closed in 1759 by the Marquis of Pombal, and Évora went into decline. The university was only reopened in 1973.
The Battle of Évora was fought on 29 July 1808 during the Peninsular War. An outnumbered Portuguese-Spanish force of 2,500, assisted by poorly armed peasant militiamen, tried to stop a French-Spanish division commanded by Louis Henri Loison but it was routed. Led by the hated Loison, known as Maneta or One-Hand, the French went on to storm the town which was defended by soldiers, militiamen, and armed townsmen. Breaking into the town, the attackers slaughtered combatants and non-combatants alike before thoroughly pillaging the place. The French invasion inflicted as many as 8,000 casualties while suffering only 290 of their own.[11]
In 1834, Évora was the site of the surrender of the forces of King Miguel I, which marked the end of the Liberal Wars. The many monuments erected by major artists of each period now testify to Évora's lively cultural and rich artistic and historical heritage. The variety of architectural styles (Romanesque, Gothic, Manueline, Renaissance, Baroque), the palaces and the picturesque labyrinth of squares and narrow streets of the city centre are all part of the rich heritage of this museum-city.
In 1909, the city was damaged by an earthquake.[12]
Évora (altitude 300m) is situated in Alentejo, a large region of wide plains in the south of Portugal, bordered to the North by the Tagus River and to the South by the region of Algarve. The city is 140km (90miles) from the capital city Lisbon, and 80km (50miles) from Badajoz at the Spanish border. It is the chief city of the region.
The seat of the municipality is the city of Évora, composed by the civil parishes of Évora (São Mamede, Sé, São Pedro e Santo Antão) in the historical centre and the urban parishes of Bacelo e Senhora da Saúde and Malagueira e Horta das Figueiras outside the ancient city walls where most of the population in fact reside. The remaining civil parishes in the municipality are rural or suburban and do not form part of the city for statistical purposes. The city's historical centre has about 4,000 buildings and an area of 1.05km2.
Évora has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa) with hot, dry summers and mild, moist winters. Its location in the interior of southern Portugal makes it subject to frequent droughts and desertification.[13] [14] As is typical of the interior Alentejo, Évora is prone to severe heat extremes with an all-time record of 45.4C.[15] However, the average summer high is usually around 30C, which is significantly less severe heat than the one found at more interior, lower altitude areas of the Iberian Peninsula. This is due to low-scale maritime effects caused by its relative proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, which also causes seasonal lag predominantly during the warmer period, with night-time temperatures being milder in September than June as well as in October compared with May. Frosts in winter are frequent but not usually severe, snow falling only twice a decade.
Évora is a pleasant medium-sized city and has numerous monuments. Due to its long history, monuments and buildings are its main attraction to outsiders. However, there are numerous "Festas Populares" celebrating saints, holidays, "Feiras" (fairs) and cultural events (such as televised musical presentations) sponsored by the municipality and other organizations[16]
The present Mayor is Carlos Pinto de Sá of the CDU coalition. The municipal holiday is 29 June.The municipality consists of the following 12 civil parishes:[17]
See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Portugal. Évora is twinned with:[18]
Chartres, France, since 2003
Qazvin, Iran, since 2016
Island of Mozambique, Mozambique, since 1997
Suzdal, Russia, since 1986Évora is the chief city of the Alentejo region, and plays a role as an important agricultural and services center. It is home to several institutions with great importance for the region, like the state-run University of Évora and the district hospital.
In 2015, Embraer built two factories for the production of aircraft parts along with its European Engineering Center.[19] In 2022, these factories were sold to aerospace company Aernnova, a corporate spin-off of Siemens Gamesa.[20]
Due to its extensive historical and cultural importance, Évora, as well as the surrounding area, saw in the 2010s a great increase in its international tourism sector, which fomented the creation of many hotels, bed-and-breakfasts and various other styles of accommodation. Some of its most visited sites include the Roman Temple of Évora, the Chapel of Bones, the Cathedral of Évora, Évora's Museum, and its historical centre.
Évora can be reached by bus or train. Its railway station is the terminus of the Linha de Évora; as of 2023, an extension to Elvas is under construction, the . This single-track electrified line is mainly intended for freight traffic, but would also carry some passenger trains, with speeds up to .
There is a small airfield, the Évora Municipal Airport, currently without commercial airline service. The closest major airports are: Beja, Lisbon, Faro and Badajoz.
| Whs: | Historic Centre of Évora |
| Image Upright: | 1.2 |
| Criteria: | (ii)(iv) |
| Id: | 361 |
| Year: | 1986 |
The city of Évora is marked by the historic square in the Praça do Geraldo, where King Duarte constructed the Estaus Palace. The square is marked by the Henriquina fountain, dating to 1570, which includes eight jets symbolizing the eight streets that lead to the square. At the northern end of the square is the Church of Saint Andrew (Portuguese: Igreja de Santo Antão) built by Manuel Pires, in the 16th century. A rather large church three-nave church includes a valuable altar antependium from the 13th century in bas relief. In 1483, Fernando II, the Duke of Braganza was executed in the square, in the presence of his brother-in-law king John II. This square also witnessed thousands of autos-da-fé during the Inquisition; there were 22000 condemnations, during the course of 200 years.[21]