Arraiolos () is a municipality in Évora District in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 7,363,Instituto Nacional de Estatística
/ref> in an area of 683.75 km². The town of Arraiolos has 3,351 inhabitants. The present Mayor is Silvia Pinto, elected by the Unitary Democratic Coalition. The town is famous for its castle and its embroidered wool rugs and carpets.

Arraiolos rug An Arraiolos rug, Arraiolos tapestry, Arraiolos carpet or Portuguese needlework rug (in Portuguese, ''Tapete de Arraiolos'') is an embroidered wool rug made traditionally in the small town of Arraiolos, Portugal, since the Middle Ages.Fleming, John ...

s have been made since the Middle Ages.Fleming, John &

Hugh Honour Hugh Honour FRSL (26 September 1927 – 19 May 2016) was a British art historian, known for his writing partnership with John Fleming (art historian), John Fleming. Their ''A World History of Art'' (a.k.a. ''The Visual Arts: A History''), is now ...

. (1977) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Decorative Arts. '' London:

Allen Lane Sir Allen Lane (born Allen Lane Williams; 21 September 1902 – 7 July 1970) was a British publisher who together with his brothers Richard and John Lane founded Penguin Books in 1935, bringing high-quality paperback fiction and non-fictio ...

, p. 35. In October 2003, Jorge Sampaio, the then President of Portugal, invited the Presidents of Finland, Germany, as well as of soon-to-be EU members Hungary, Latvia and Poland to Arraiolos in order to discuss the consequences of the

2004 enlargement of the European Union The largest expansion of the European Union (EU), in terms of territory, number of states, and population took place on 1 May 2004. The simultaneous accessions concerned the following countries (sometimes referred to as the "A10" countries): ...

and plans for a Constitution for Europe. Subsequent meetings of non-executive presidents of European Union member states have been dubbed '' Arraiolos meetings''.

History

A hoard of prehistoric objects, including a trapezoid-shaped plaque with

geometric Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is ca ...

design and three pottery vessels, was excavated from a tumulus or barrow in Arraiolos at the beginning of the twentieth century. They are now kept at the British Museum.

Parishes

Administratively, the municipality is divided into 5 civil parishes ('' freguesias''): * Arraiolos * Gafanhoeira e Sabugueiro * Igrejinha * São Gregório e Santa Justa * Vimieiro

Notable people

* Joaquim Heliodoro da Cunha Rivara (1809 in Arraiolos – 1879 in Évora) a physician, professor, intellectual and politician * Francisco José Caeiro (1890 in Vimieiro – 1976) a politician and former Minister and law professor.

Gallery

File:Arraiolos2.jpg, A house in Arraiolos. Image:Arraiolos1.jpg, The local castle. Image:Castelo de Arraiolos3.jpg, View of the countryside from the castle.

References

External links