Beja () is a city and a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the

Alentejo Alentejo ( , ) is a geographical, historical, and cultural region of south–central and southern Portugal. In Portuguese, its name means "beyond () the Tagus river" (''Tejo''). Alentejo includes the regions of Alto Alentejo and Baixo Alent ...

region, Portugal. The population in 2011 was 35,854, in an area of . The city proper had a population of 21,658 in 2001. The municipality is the capital of the

Beja District The Beja District () is located in southern Portugal. The district capital is the city of Beja. It is the largest district of the country by area, and constitutes around 11% of its area. Municipalities The district is composed of 14 municipali ...

. The present Mayor is Paulo Arsénio, elected by the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

with an absolute majority in the

2017 Portuguese Local Elections The Portuguese local elections of 2017 were held on October 1, 2017. The elections consisted of three separate elections in the 308 Portuguese municipalities, the election for the Municipal Chambers, whose winner was elected mayor, another electi ...

. The municipal holiday is

Ascension Day The Solemnity of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, also called Ascension Day, Ascension Thursday, or sometimes Holy Thursday, commemorates the Christian belief of the bodily Ascension of Jesus into heaven. It is one of the ecumenical (i.e., shared b ...

. The

Portuguese Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = 1 July , equipment = , equipment_label ...

has an airbase in the area – the Air Base No. 11.

History

Situated on a hill, commanding a strategic position over the vast plains of the Baixo

, Beja was already an important place in antiquity. Already inhabited in

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

times, the town was later named ''

Pax Julia ''Pax Iulia'' (also known as ''Colonia Civitas Pacensis'') was a city in the Roman province of Lusitania (today situated in the Portuguese municipality of Beja). History The region was inhabited during 400 BC by Celtic tribes, but there are indic ...

'' by

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...

in 48

BCE Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...

, when he made peace with the

Lusitanians The Lusitanians ( la, Lusitani) were an Indo-European languages, Indo-European speaking people living in the west of the Iberian Peninsula prior to its conquest by the Roman Republic and the subsequent incorporation of the territory into the Roma ...

. He raised the town to be the capital of the southernmost province of

Lusitania Lusitania (; ) was an ancient Iberian Roman province located where modern Portugal (south of the Douro river) and a portion of western Spain (the present Extremadura and the province of Salamanca) lie. It was named after the Lusitani or Lusita ...

(Santarém and Braga were the other capitals of the ''conventi''). During the reign of emperor

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...

the thriving town became Pax Augusta. It was already then a strategic road junction. When the

Visigoths The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is ...

took over the region, they called the town ''Paca'' (a direct derivation or shortening of the Latin ''Pax or Pace-Augusta'') which then became the seat of a

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

ric. Saint Aprígio (died in 530) became the first Visigothic bishop of Paca. The town fell to the invading

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...

army in 713. ''Paca'', was then adapted to Arabic ''Baja'' ( ar, باجة there's no sound for "p" in Arabic), and eventually became ''Beja''. Starting in 910 there were successive attempts of conquest and reconquest by the Christian kings. With the collapse of the Umayyad

Caliphate of Córdoba The Caliphate of Córdoba ( ar, خلافة قرطبة; transliterated ''Khilāfat Qurṭuba''), also known as the Cordoban Caliphate was an Islamic state ruled by the Umayyad dynasty from 929 to 1031. Its territory comprised Iberia and parts o ...

in 1031, Beja became a

taifa The ''taifas'' (singular ''taifa'', from ar, طائفة ''ṭā'ifa'', plural طوائف ''ṭawā'if'', a party, band or faction) were the independent Muslim principalities and kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula (modern Portugal and Spain), re ...

, an independent Muslim-ruled principality. In 1144 the governor of Beja, Sidray ibn Wazir, helped the rebellion of the ''

Murīdūn The Murīdūn ("disciples") were a Sufi order in al-Andalus that rebelled against the authority of the Almoravid dynasty in 1141 and ruled a ''taifa'' based on Mértola in the al-Gharb from 1144 until 1151. The founder and leader of the Murīdū ...

'' (disciples) led by Abul-Qasim Ahmad ibn al-Husayn al-Quasi in the

Algarve The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities ( ''concelhos'' or ''municípios'' in Portuguese). The region has it ...

against power of

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

. In 1150 the town was captured by an army of the

Almohads The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the unity of God) was a North African Berber Muslim empire fo ...

, who annexed it to their North African empire. It was retaken in 1162 by Fernão Gonçalves, leading the army of the Portuguese king

Afonso I Afonso I of PortugalOr also ''Affonso'' (Archaic Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonso'' (Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonsus'' (Latin version), sometimes rendered in English as ''Alphonzo'' or ''Alphonse'', depending on the Spanish or French inf ...

. In 1175 Beja was recaptured again by the Almohads. It stayed under Muslim rule till 1234 when king Sancho II finally recaptured the town from the Moors. All these wars depopulated the town and gradually reduced it to rubble. Only with

Manuel I Manuel I may refer to: *Manuel I Komnenos, Byzantine emperor (1143–1180) *Manuel I of Trebizond, Emperor of Trebizond (1228–1263) *Manuel I of Portugal Manuel I (; 31 May 146913 December 1521), known as the Fortunate ( pt, O Venturoso), was ...

in 1521 did Beja again reach the status of city. It was attacked and occupied by the Portuguese and the Spanish armies during the

Portuguese Restoration War The Portuguese Restoration War ( pt, Guerra da Restauração) was the war between History of Portugal (1640–1777), Portugal and Habsburg Spain, Spain that began with the Portuguese revolution of 1640 and ended with the Treaty of Lisbon (1668), ...

(1640–1667). Beja became again the head of a

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

in 1770, more than a thousand years after the fall of the Visigothic city. In 1808

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

ic troops under General Junot sacked the city and massacred the inhabitants.

Geography

Climate

Due to its southernmost inland location with the descending winds of the subtropics and low precipitation, especially in summer, the city has a

hot-summer Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

: ''Csa''). It is the hottest main city in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

and one of the hottest places in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

during summer. Between 2001 and 2018 it had the hottest summer of any main city in the country. Although mild by European standards, Beja has relatively cool winters, while summers are long and hot. The high in January is around while the July and August highs are around , however in the last few years there has been an increase, to arround 34-36°C+. The January low is and in July and August is . The annual mean temperature is around . The average total rainfall in a year is .

Snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

is rare but may occur on a few occasions in a century, the last being on January 10, 2019. The year 2005 was particularly dry in

and Beja suffered devastating forest fires in the surrounding rural areas contributing to the

desertification Desertification is a type of land degradation in drylands in which biological productivity is lost due to natural processes or induced by human activities whereby fertile areas become increasingly arid. It is the spread of arid areas caused by ...

that affects

Human geography

Beja, Alentejo, Portugal, 27 September 2005

Administratively, the municipality is divided into 11 civil parishes (''

freguesias ''Freguesia'' (), usually translated as "parish" or "civil parish", is the third-level administrative subdivision of Portugal, as defined by the 1976 Constitution. It is also the designation for local government jurisdictions in the former Port ...

''): * Albernoa e Trindade * Baleizão *

Beja (Salvador e Santa Maria da Feira) União das Freguesias de Beja e Salvador e Santa Maria da Feira) is a Freguesia (Portugal), parish in the Concelho of Beja, Portugal, Beja, Portugal. It was formed in 2013 by the merger of the former parishes Salvador and Santa Maria da Feira. The ...

Beja (Santiago Maior e São João Baptista) Beja (União das Freguesias de Santiago Maior e São João Baptista) is a parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical juri ...

Beringel Beringel is a town (''vila'') and parish (''freguesia'') in Beja Municipality, Alentejo in Southern Portugal. The population in 2011 was 1,301, in an area of 15.04 km2. Three famous Portuguese people, Portuguese singers were born in Beringel ...

Cabeça Gorda Cabeça Gorda is a parish of the municipality of Beja, southeast Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwest ...

* Nossa Senhora das Neves * Salvada e Quintos *

Santa Clara de Louredo Santa Clara de Louredo is a parish of the municipality of Beja, in southeast Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of ...

* Santa Vitória e Mombeja * São Matias *

Trigaches e São Brissos Trigaches e São Brissos is a civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, o ...

International relations

Beja is twinned with:

Architecture

Castle

Carmelo do Sagrado Coracao de Jesus Beja

The Castle of Beja on top of the hill can be seen from afar and dominates the town. It was built, together with the town walls, under the reign of King Diniz in the 13th century over the remains of a Roman ''castellum'' that had been fortified by the

Moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or ...

. It consists of

battlement A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

walls with four square corner towers and a central granite and marble

keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...

(''Torre de Menagem''), with its height of 40 m the highest in Portugal. The top of the keep can be accessed via a spiral staircase with 197 steps, passing three stellar-vaulted rooms with

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

windows. The

merlon A merlon is the solid upright section of a battlement (a crenellated parapet) in medieval architecture or fortifications.Friar, Stephen (2003). ''The Sutton Companion to Castles'', Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2003, p. 202. Merlons are sometimes ...

s of the

machicolation A machicolation (french: mâchicoulis) is a floor opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement, through which stones or other material, such as boiling water, hot sand, quicklime or boiling cooking oil, could be dropped on attackers at t ...

around the keep are topped with small pyramids. Standing on the battlements, one has a sensational panorama of the surrounding landscape. One can also glimpse the remains of the city walls that once had forty

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

s and five gates. The castle now houses a small military museum. The square in front of the castle is named after

Gonçalo Mendes da Maia Gonçalo Mendes da Maia (1079? in Maia? – 1170 in Alentejo), also known as ''O Lidador'' (The Toiler), so named for his fearlessness in the struggle against the Saracens, was a Portuguese knight of the time of Afonso Henriques, about whom tradi ...

or ''O Lidador'', a brave knight killed in the battle against the Moors in 1170.

Visigothic Museum

The whitewashed Latin-Visigothic church of Santo Amaro, dedicated to

Saint Amaro According to Catholic tradition, Saint Amaro or Amarus the Pilgrim ( es, San Amaro, pt, Santo Amaro, gl, Santo Amaro) was an abbot and sailor who it was claimed sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to an earthly paradise. There are two historical fi ...

, standing next to the castle, is one of just four pre-Romanesque churches left in Portugal. Some parts date from the 6th century and the interior columns and

capitals Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

are carved with foliages and geometric designs from the 7th century. Especially the column with birds attacking a snake is of particular note. It houses today a small archaeological museum with Visigothic art.

Museum of Queen Eleanor

This regional museum was set up in 1927 and 1928 in the former Convent of Our Lady of the Conception (''Convento de Nossa Senhora da Conceição'') of the

Order of Poor Ladies The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare ( la, Ordo sanctae Clarae) – originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and later the Clarisses, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Order, and the Second Order of Saint Francis ...

(dissolved in 1834), gradually expanding its collection. This

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

convent had been established in 1459 by

Infante Fernando, Duke of Viseu Infante Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu and Beja (or ''Fernando,'' , 17 November 1433 – 18 September 1470) was the third son of Edward, King of Portugal and his wife Eleanor of Aragon. Biography Ferdinand was born in Almeirim on 17 November 14 ...

and duke of Beja, next to his ducal palace. The construction continued until 1509. It is an impressive building with a late-

lattice-worked

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can ...

running along the building. This elegant architrave resembles somewhat the architrave of the

Monastery of Batalha The Monastery of Batalha ( pt, Mosteiro da Batalha) is a Dominican convent in the municipality of Batalha, in the district of Leiria, in the Centro Region of Portugal. Originally, and officially, known as the ''Monastery of Saint Mary of the V ...

, even if there are some early-

Manueline The Manueline ( pt, estilo manuelino, ), occasionally known as Portuguese late Gothic, is the sumptuous, composite Portuguese architectural style originating in the 16th century, during the Portuguese Renaissance and Age of Discoveries. Manuel ...

influences. Above the entrance porch on the western façade is an '' ajimez'' window (a

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

ed window) in Manueline and Moorish style in the room of the

abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic ...

, originating from the demolished palace of the dukes of Beja. The entrance door is embedded under an

ogee An ogee ( ) is the name given to objects, elements, and curves—often seen in architecture and building trades—that have been variously described as serpentine-, extended S-, or sigmoid-shaped. Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combinatio ...

arch. A square bell-tower and a

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

with

crocket A crocket (or croquet) is a small, independent decorative element common in Gothic architecture. The name derives from the diminutive of the French ''croc'', meaning "hook", due to the resemblance of crockets to a bishop's crosier. Description ...

s tower above the complex. The convent has been classified as a national monument. The entrance hall leads to the sumptuously gilded

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

chapel, consisting of a single nave under a semi-circular

vault Vault may refer to: * Jumping, the act of propelling oneself upwards Architecture * Vault (architecture), an arched form above an enclosed space * Bank vault, a reinforced room or compartment where valuables are stored * Burial vault (enclosure ...

. Three altars (one of the 17th century, dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, and two of the 18th century, dedicated to St. Christopher and St. Bento) are decorated with gilded woodwork (''talha dourada''). The fourth altar, dedicated to St.

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

, was decorated with Florentine mosaics by José Ramalho in 1695. On the wall are three religious

azulejo ''Azulejo'' (, ; from the Arabic ''al- zillīj'', ) is a form of Spanish and Portuguese painted tin-glazed ceramic tilework. ''Azulejos'' are found on the interior and exterior of churches, palaces, ordinary houses, schools, and nowadays, resta ...

s dating from 1741, depicting scenes from the life of St. John the Baptist The refectory and the ''claustro'' are decorated with exquisite ''azulejos'', some dating from Moorish times, others from the 16th to the 18th centuries. One enters the

chapter house A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room that is part of a cathedral, monastery or collegiate church in which meetings are held. When attached to a cathedral, the cathedral chapter meets there. In monasteries, the whole communi ...

through a Manueline portal from the ''quadra'' of St. John the Evangelist. The ribbed vault of this square room was distempered during the renovations of 1727. The walls are covered with Arab-Hispanic azulejos with geometric and vegetal designs that are among the most important ceramic decorations in Portugal. Above the azulejos are some semicircular distempered paintings with religious themes:

St. John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

, St. John the Evangelist,

St. Christopher Saint Christopher ( el, Ἅγιος Χριστόφορος, ''Ágios Christóphoros'') is venerated by several Christian denominations as a martyr killed in the reign of the 3rd-century Roman emperor Decius (reigned 249–251) or alternatively u ...

, St. Clare and

St. Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, better known as Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Francesco d'Assisi; – 3 October 1226), was a mystic Italian Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans, and one of the most venerated figures in Christianit ...

. The museum houses also an important collection of Flemish, Spanish and Portuguese paintings from the 15th to the 18th centuries, among them: * Flemish paintings: '' ''Virgin with Milk''; Flemish School (c. 1530) and "Christ and His Apostles" (16th century) * Portuguese paintings: '' Ecce Homo'' (15th century), "

St. Vincent Saint Vincent may refer to: People Saints * Vincent of Saragossa (died 304), a.k.a. Vincent the Deacon, deacon and martyr * Saint Vincenca, 3rd century Roman martyress, whose relics are in Blato, Croatia * Vincent, Orontius, and Victor (died 305) ...

by Vicente Gil and Manuel Vicente (16th century), "Virgin with the Rose" by Francisco Campos (16th century), "Mass of St. Gregory" probably by Gregório Lopes (16th century), "Annunciation" (16th century) and four paintings by António Nogueira (16th century), "Last Supper" by Pedro Alexandrino (17th century). * Spanish paintings: '' St. Augustine'', ''

St. Jerome Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is comm ...

'' and "Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew" by

José de Ribera Jusepe de Ribera (1591 – 1652) was a painter and printmaker, who along with Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and the singular Diego Velázquez, are regarded as the major artists of Spanish Baroque painting. Referring to ...

(Spanish, 17th century), '' Head of Saint John the Baptist'' (Spanish School, 17th century) The museum houses also the funeral monuments in late-Gothic style of the first abbess D. Uganda and of the

and his wife Beatriz of Portugal. The archaeological collection of Fernando Nunes Ribeiro, donated to museum in 1987 after forty years of archaeological research, is on display on the upper floors: Visigothic and Roman artefacts, gravestones from the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

with antique writings of the

Iberians The Iberians ( la, Hibērī, from el, Ἴβηρες, ''Iberes'') were an ancient people settled in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian peninsula, at least from the 6th century BC. They are described in Greek and Roman sources (among ...

and

stele A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...

s from the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

. Among the several other artefacts in its collection, the museum possesses the ''Escudela de Pero de Faria'', a unique piece of Chinese porcelain from 1541.

Museums and monuments

* Castle of Beja * Regional Museum (Housed in the

Convent of Beja Museu Rainha Dona Leonor (" Queen Eleanor Museum") is a museum housed in the former Convent of Beja, Portugal. Fodor's Portugal: Where to Stay, Eat, and Explore -Fodor's - 2001 - Page 171 0679006761 "You can see Roman artifacts and other tokens of ...

* Museological Core of Sembrano's Street * Visigotic Core of the Regional Museum (Housed in the Church of Santo Amaro) * Old Stone

Pillory The pillory is a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse. The pillory is related to the stocks ...

Roman ruins of Pisões The Roman Ruins of Pisões ( pt, Ruinas Romanas de Pisões), is an important Roman villa rustica located in the civil parish of Beja (Santiago Maior e São João Baptista) in the municipality of Beja, in the Portuguese Alentejo, classified as a '' ...

* Jorge Vieira's Art Museum

Historical churches

Cathedral of St. James the Great, Beja The Cathedral of St. James the Great ( pt, Sé Catedral de São Tiago Maior) also called Beja Cathedral It is a religious building belonging to the Catholic Church and serves as the cathedral in Beja, Portugal, and the seat of the Diocese of Bej ...

* Heritage of Santo André * Church of Santo Amaro / Visigotic Core of the Regional Beja Museum * Church of Mercy * Our Lady of Conception Convent (

) / REGIONAL MUSEUM * S. Francisco Convent (Now a Historical Hotel) * Church of Santa Maria da Feira (Originally Built as a Mosque) * Church of Our Lady of Pleasures * Church of Our Lady at the Foot of the Cross * Church of Our Lady of Peace * Church of the Savior * Church of Our Lady of Carmo * St. Stephen's Chapel * S. Sebastião's Heritage * Convent of Santo António

Urban green spaces

* Public Garden * City Park * Picnic Park (Close to the City Park)

Economy

Known as the

breadbasket The breadbasket of a country or of a region is an area which, because of the richness of the soil and/or advantageous climate, produces large quantities of wheat or other grain. Rice bowl is a similar term used to refer to Southeast Asia; and C ...

of Portugal, the region's agriculture is a mainstay of the local economy. It produces

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

wines Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

and

olives The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' 'M ...

. Tourism has also importance due to sunny weather, a long history and many cultural attractions including a 13th-century castle and a number of museums. The military airport of Beja, 9 kilometers away, has been converted and was opened for civilian flights in 2011. The Portuguese

wet lease Aircraft leases are leases used by airlines and other aircraft operators. Airlines lease aircraft from other airlines or leasing companies for two main reasons: to operate aircraft without the financial burden of buying them, and to provide tempora ...

airline Hi Fly operates its

Airbus A380 The Airbus A380 is a large wide-body airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and only full-length double-deck jet airliner. Airbus studies started in 1988, and the project was annou ...

, purchased second-hand in 2018, from Beja, as well as other airplanes of its fleet. A highway was constructed to link Beja to the deepwater port of

Sines Sines () is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The municipality, divided into two parishes, has around 14,214 inhabitants (2021) in an area of . Sines holds an important oil refinery and several petrochemical industries. It is also a popular ...

about 60 kilometers away.

Education

Higher education

* Polytechnic Institute of Beja

Schools

* EB 2,3 Santiago Maior School * EB 2,3 Mário Beirão School * EB 2,3 Santa Maria School * D. Manuel I - High School * Diogo Gouveia - High School * Regional Music Conservatory from Baixo Alentejo

Culture

Cultural places

* Beja Public Library * Pax Julia Theater * Casa da Culture (meaning House of Culture)

Events

* Ovibeja * Patrimónios do Sul * Beja Romana (Historical Recreation from Roman Times) * International

Comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

Festival * Palavras Andarilhas

Notable citizens

Eleanor of Portugal - Breviary, Morgan Library & Museum MS M

* Abu al-Walid al-Baji (c. 1013–c.1081) a goldsmith and

Maliki The ( ar, مَالِكِي) school is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century. The Maliki school of jurisprudence relies on the Quran and hadiths as primary ...

scholar *

Al-Mu'tamid ibn Abbad Al-Mu'tamid Muhammad ibn Abbad al-Lakhmi ( ar, المعتمد محمد ابن عباد بن اسماعيل اللخمي; reigned c. 1069–1091, lived 1040–1095), also known as Abbad III, was the third and last ruler of the Taifa of Sevi ...

(1040–1095), the third and last ruler of the taifa of Seville in Al-Andalus. *

(1079–1170) a knight in the service of

Afonso Henriques Afonso I of PortugalOr also ''Affonso'' (Archaic Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonso'' (Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonsus'' (Latin version), sometimes rendered in English as ''Alphonzo'' or ''Alphonse'', depending on the Spanish or French inf ...

, responsible for border defence of Beja. * Queen

Eleanor of Viseu Eleanor of Viseu (2 May 1458 – 17 November 1525; pt, Leonor de Viseu ) was a Portuguese ''infanta'' (princess) and later queen consort of Portugal. She is considered one of her country's most notable queens consort and one of the only two ...

(1458–1525) an ''

infanta ''Infante'' (, ; f. ''infanta''), also anglicised as Infant or translated as Prince, is the title and rank given in the Iberian kingdoms of Spain (including the predecessor kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, Navarre, and León) and Portugal to th ...

'' (princess) and later queen consort of Portugal. *

Diogo de Gouveia Diogo de Gouveia (c. 1471, Beja - 8 December 1557, Lisbon), known as Diogo de Gouveia, the Elder to distinguish him from contemporary homonyms such as his nephew, was a leading Portuguese teacher, theologian, diplomat and humanist during the Re ...

(c.1471-1557) a teacher, theologian, diplomat and humanist during the Renaissance. *

André de Gouveia André de Gouveia (1497 – 9 June 1548) was a Portuguese humanist and pedagogue during the Renaissance. Biography André de Gouveia became one of the first Portuguese to study in the Collège Sainte-Barbe, in Paris, which was then directed ...

(1497–1548) a humanist and pedagogue during the Renaissance. *

António de Gouveia António de Gouveia (c.1505 – March 1566) was a Portuguese humanist and educator during the Renaissance. Gouveia was born in Beja. After graduating in Paris he taught at the Collège de Guyenne in Bordeaux, and then at Toulouse, Avignon, ...

(c.1505–1566) a humanist and educator during the Renaissance. *

Mariana Alcoforado Sóror Mariana Alcoforado (Santa Maria da Feira, Beja, 22 April 1640Beja, 28 July 1723) was a Portuguese nun living in the convent of the Poor Clares (Convento de Nossa Senhora da Conceição, ''Convent of Our Lady of the Conception'') in Beja, ...

(1640–1723) a nun who wrote the ''

Letters of a Portuguese Nun The ''Letters of a Portuguese Nun'' ( French: ''Les Lettres Portugaises'', literally ''The Portuguese Letters''), first published anonymously by Claude Barbin in Paris in 1669, is a work believed by most scholars to be epistolary fiction in the f ...

'' * José Agostinho de Macedo (1761–1831) a Portuguese poet and prose writer *

Tomás António Garcia Rosado Tomás António Garcia Rosado, (4 March 1854 in Beja, Portugal – 30 August 1937 in Sintra, Portugal) was an infantry officer and general of the Portuguese Army. Life In 1895, after accompanying Afonso, Duke of Porto to Portuguese India, he ...

(1854–1937) an infantry officer, general of the

Portuguese Army The Portuguese Army ( pt, Exército Português) is the land component of the Armed Forces of Portugal and is also its largest branch. It is charged with the defence of Portugal, in co-operation with other branches of the Armed Forces. With its ...

, Governor of Mozambique, 1902-1905 and Ambassador to the UK, 1926-1934. * António Maria Baptista (1866–1920) a military officer and politician, President of the Ministry in 1920 *

Deolinda Lopes Vieira Deolinda Lopes Vieira (18881993), a primary school teacher, was an anarcho-syndicalist activist and a feminist, who played an important role in Portugal's ''Conselho Nacional das Mulheres Portuguesas'' (National Council of Portuguese Women - CNM ...

(1888–1993) a teacher, an anarcho-syndicalist activist and feminist * Mário Beirão (1890-1965) a Portuguese poet * Maria Lucília Estanco Louro (1922-2018) a teacher, pacifist and opponent of the Estado Novo regime *

Catarina Eufémia Catarina Efigénia Sabino Eufémia (; February 13, 1928 to May 19, 1954) was an illiterate harvester from Alentejo, Portugal who was murdered during a worker's strike by lieutenant Carrajola of the Guarda Nacional Republicana in Monte do Olival, ...

(1928-1954) a harvester and political murder victim in Beja *

Linda de Suza Teolinda Joaquina de Sousa Lança, better known as Linda de Suza, (22 February 1948 – 28 December 2022) was a Portugal, Portuguese Lusophone and Francophone singer, actress and best-selling author. She was described by Portuguese President of ...

(born 1948) a singer, actress and best-selling author *

Tonicha Tonicha (born Antónia de Jesus Montes Tonicha on 8 March 1946) is a Portuguese people, Portuguese pop-folk singer. She represented Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest 1971, with the song "Menina do alto da serra" ("Girl from the country mo ...

(born 1946) real name ''Antónia de Jesus Montes Tonicha'', a pop-folk singer. *

Cândida Branca Flor Cândida Branca Flor (12 November 1949 – 11 July 2001) was a famous Portuguese entertainer and traditional singer whose career spanned four decades. Biography Cândida Branca Flor was born on 12 November 1949 in Beringel, Beja municipality, Al ...

(1949–2001) an entertainer and traditional singer Cândida Branca Flor, IMDb Database
retrieved 10 June 2021. *

Carlos Moedas Carlos Manuel Félix Moedas (born 10 August 1970) is a Portuguese civil engineer, economist and politician of the Social Democratic Party (PSD). From 2014 until 2019, Moedas served as European Commissioner covering the portfolio of Research, S ...

(born 1970)

European Commissioner A European Commissioner is a member of the 27-member European Commission. Each member within the Commission holds a specific portfolio. The commission is led by the President of the European Commission. In simple terms they are the equivalent ...

2014-2019 *

António Zambujo António Zambujo ( ComIH) (born September 1975, in Beringel, Beja, Portugal) is a Portuguese singer and songwriter. One of the characteristic qualities of his music is the presence of Cante Alentejano, a regional genre that influenced him while ...

(born 1975) a singer and songwriter

Sport

Fernando Mamede Fernando Eugénio Pacheco Mamede, ComM (born 1 November 1951) is a former Portuguese athlete, a long distance running specialist. He was born in Beja. Together with Carlos Lopes, he is one of the best Portuguese male long distance runners ...

(born 1951) a former athlete, a long distance running specialist * Quim (born 1967) real name ''Joaquim Manuel Aguiar Serafim'', a retired footballer with 436 for Vitória F.C. *

Pedro Caixinha Pedro Miguel Faria Caixinha (; born 15 November 1970) is a Portuguese professional football manager, currently in charge of Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Red Bull Bragantino. He started coaching in his late twenties, acting an assistant w ...

(born 1970) a football manager currently with

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul or simply Cruz Azul () is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in the Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Because "azul" means "blue" in Spanish, the club has traditionally ...

Manuel Damião Manuel Damião (born 4 July 1978) is a Portuguese middle- and long-distance runner. He represented Portugal at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He is a two-time silver medallist at the Ibero-American Championships in Athletics and participated in the ...

(born 1978) a middle- and long-distance runner *

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

(born 1982), real name ''João Pedro dos Santos Gonçalves'', a footballer with over 350 club caps *

João Aurélio João Miguel Coimbra Aurélio (born 17 August 1988) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays for C.D. Nacional as a right-back or a right midfielder. He spent the vast majority of his career with Nacional, making 239 competitive appear ...

(born 1988) a professional footballer with over 300 club caps

References

Notes

Sources

* * * *

External links

Town Hall official website

Museum Queen Eleanor
(in Portuguese)
Carmel of Beja
(in Portuguese) {{Authority control Populated places in Beja District Burial sites of the House of Aviz Municipalities of Beja District