Elvas

For other uses, see Elvas (disambiguation).

This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Portuguese. (October 2012) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Portuguese article. Machine translation like Deepl or Google Translate is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary (using German): Content in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at [[:de:Exact name of German article]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template {{Translated|pt|Elvas}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Municipality in Alentejo, Portugal

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	WET/WEST (UTC+0/+1)
Website	http://www.cm-elvas.pt

Elvas (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈɛɫvɐʃ]) 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^[update] 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^[update].^[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.

Contents

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  1 History
  


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  2 Civil Parishes
  


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  3 Sister cities
  


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  4 Gallery
  


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  5 References
  

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). The surrounding lowlands are very fertile, and Elvas is known for its olives and plums, and exports the latter, either fresh or dried, in large quantities. Brandy is distilled and pottery manufactured in the city.

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).

It is defended by seven bastions and the two forts of Santa Luzia and the Nossa Senhora da Graça Fort. From 1642 until modern times it was the chief frontier fortress south of the Tagus, which withstood sieges by the Spanish in 1659, 1711 and 1801. 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. 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. 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. The Garrison Border Town of Elvas and its Fortifications were added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2012.^[4]

Civil Parishes

Administratively, the municipality is divided in seven civil parishes (freguesias):^[5]

• 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


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  Olivenza, Extremadura, Spain


• 
  Campo Maior, Alentejo, Portugal

Gallery

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  Entrance of the Municipal Library of Elvas
  

  
  

  
  


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  A pillory in the city of Elvas
  

  
  

  
  


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  Elvas Station
  

  
  

  
  


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  Typical features
  

  
  

  
  


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  Castle of Elvas
  

  
  

  
  


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  City walls
  

  
  

  
  


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  Castle of Elvas
  

  
  

  
  


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  Elvas, Portugal
  

  
  

  
  


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  Amoreira Aqueduct
  

  
  

  
  


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  Inside of a local Catholic church
  

  
  

  
  


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  Square of Santa Clara
  

  
  

  
  


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  Elvas, Alentejo
  

  
  

  
  


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  Monument commemorating the 1659 Battle of the Lines of Elvas
  

  
  

  
  

References

1. 
   ^ Instituto Nacional de Estatística
   


2. 
   ^ Áreas das freguesias, concelhos, distritos e país
   


3. 
   ^ UMA POPULAÇÃO QUE SE URBANIZA, Uma avaliação recente – Cidades, 2004 Archived October 6, 2014, at the Wayback Machine Nuno Pires Soares, Instituto Geográfico Português (Geographic Institute of Portugal)
   


4. 
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5. 
   ^ Diário da República. "Law nr. 11-A/2013, page 552 44" (pdf) (in Portuguese). Retrieved 22 July 2014.
   

• 
  Portugal portal
  

• 
   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.

v t e Municipalities of Portalegre District
Alter do Chão Arronches Avis Campo Maior Castelo de Vide Crato Elvas Fronteira Gavião Marvão Monforte Nisa Ponte de Sor Portalegre Sousel

v t e World Heritage sites in Portugal
Norte	Alto Douro Wine Region Historic Centre of Guimarães Historic Centre of Porto Prehistoric Rock Art Sites in the Côa Valley and Siega Verde1
Centro	Alcobaça Monastery Batalha Monastery Convent of Christ in Tomar University of Coimbra – Alta and Sofia
Lisboa	Cultural Landscape of Sintra Monastery of the Hieronymites and Belém Tower
Alentejo	Historic Centre of Évora Garrison Border Town of Elvas and its Fortifications
Azores	Historic Centre of Angra do Heroísmo Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture
Madeira	Laurisilva
1 Shared with other region/s and Spain

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