Castro Verde () is a town 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 ...

of the

Alentejo region Alentejo Region () is one of the seven NUTS 2 regions of Portugal. It covers all of the historical Alentejo Province and part of the historical Ribatejo and Estremadura provinces. The greater region is defined within Portugal by the land bo ...

of Portugal (in the historic district of Beja). The population in 2011 was 7,276, in an area of 569.44 km². Castro Verde is situated in the

Baixo Alentejo subregion The Comunidade Intermunicipal do Baixo Alentejo (; English: ''Lower Alentejo'') is an administrative division in Portugal. It was created in 2009. It is also a NUTS3 subregion of the Alentejo Region. Azulejo Basilica

The pre-History of the

Baixo Alentejo Subregion The Comunidade Intermunicipal do Baixo Alentejo (; English: ''Lower Alentejo'') is an administrative division in Portugal. It was created in 2009. It is also a NUTS3 subregion of the Alentejo Region.Neanderthal Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While the ...

peoples from the north of Europe in the Lower Paleolithic period. Until their extinction, around 28,000 B.C., Neanderthal man hunted and foraged in present-day Portugal. Later, the area was home to several cultures due to the abundance of minerals and its commercial and strategic place along the Mediterranean. The earliest settlements began with Celtiberians, from the central

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...

around the 6th Century B.C., and were followed by the

Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...

. From the 3rd Century, tribal clans were replaced by organized

oppidum An ''oppidum'' (plural ''oppida'') is a large fortified Iron Age settlement or town. ''Oppida'' are primarily associated with the Celtic late La Tène culture, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread across Europe, stretchi ...

, a fortified organized city with a defined territory that included many

castro Castro is a Romance language word that originally derived from Latin ''castrum'', a pre-Roman military camp or fortification (cf: Greek: ''kastron''; Proto-Celtic:''*Kassrik;'' br, kaer, *kastro). The English-language equivalent is '' chester''. ...

villages constructed from large boulders or

earthworks Earthworks may refer to: Construction *Earthworks (archaeology), human-made constructions that modify the land contour * Earthworks (engineering), civil engineering works created by moving or processing quantities of soil *Earthworks (military), m ...

. The first evidence of early cultures in the area of Castro Verde was the discovery of the ' Syllabary of Espança', which was found near the village of Neves-Corvo in the civil parish of Santa Bárbara de Padrões. This archaeological stone contains a

Southwest Paleohispanic script The Southwest Script or Southwestern Script, also known as Tartessian or South Lusitanian, is a Paleohispanic script used to write an unknown language usually identified as Tartessian. Southwest inscriptions have been found mainly in the sout ...

, using Tartessian script and

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

, identified as being the most ancient

paleohispanic script The Paleohispanic scripts are the writing systems created in the Iberian peninsula before the Latin alphabet became the main script. Most of them are unusual in that they are semi-syllabic rather than purely alphabetic, despite having s ...

; related to the

Phoenician alphabet The Phoenician alphabet is an alphabet (more specifically, an abjad) known in modern times from the Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions found across the Mediterranean region. The name comes from the Phoenician civilization. The Phoenician a ...

, it is the closest European connection to the

Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...

n culture. The Tartessian culture was the precursors of the

Turdetani The Turdetani were an ancient pre-Roman people of the Iberian Peninsula, living in the valley of the Guadalquivir (the river that the Turdetani called by two names: ''Kertis'' and ''Rérkēs'' (Ῥέρκης); Romans would call the river by th ...

peoples of the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

period. Growth of settlements during the classic period were likely associated with the strategic importance of the Iberian Pyrite zone. Castro Verde lies along a transport route linking the mines of Aljustrel (20 km to the north) with the port city of

Mértola Mértola () is a municipality in southeastern Portuguese Alentejo near the Spanish border. In 2011, the population was 7,274, in an area of approximately : it is the sixth-largest municipality in Portugal. Meanwhile, it is the second-lowest popula ...

(40 km to the east) situated on tributaries of the

Guadiana river The Guadiana River (, also , , ), or Odiana, is an international river defining a long stretch of the Portugal-Spain border, separating Extremadura and Andalusia (Spain) from Alentejo and Algarve (Portugal). The river's basin extends from the e ...

. During the Roman occupation, the extensive mining and warehousing of minerals required protective fortifications and mineral warehouses: in the Castro Verde territory there are remains of more than 20 such small structures. Along with mining activities, the area became a vast area of grain production and cattle/sheep-grazing. The richness and abundance of these combined 'base economies' grew to such extent that Castro Verde became a regional centre of commerce and thus a crossroad of cultures within the Mediterranean area. The name origin of ''Castro Verde'' dates back to this early period, with two interpretations cited for its name. One postulates that the name was derived from the Roman ''Castra Castrorum'' and combined the ''verde'' (meaning ''"green"'') to indicate ''new''. A more consistent interpretation is that the name was derived from ''Castrum Veteris'', meaning the ''oldest castro'', to differentiate it from another ''castro'' that existed on a small plateau (where the Chapel of São Martinho exists) and was abandoned during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. The term ''castro'' derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''castrum'' refers to a small military encampment or fortification, built of large rocks. Roman occupation spanned four centuries and was followed by the migration of 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 ...

(300-700 A.C.) their expulsion by the Moors (in 711), and in turn, their expulsion from the area during the Christian

Reconquista The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...

. The

Battle of Ourique The Battle of Ourique ( ar, معركة أوريكه) was a battle that took place on 25 July 1139, in which the forces of Portuguese count Afonso Henriques (of the House of Burgundy) defeated those led by the Almoravid governor of Córdoba, Muha ...

, where

Afonso I Afonso I of PortugalOr also ''Affonso'' (Archaic Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonso'' (Portuguese-Galician languages, Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonsus'' (Latin version), sometimes rendered in English as ''Alphonzo'' or ''Alphonse'', dependi ...

triumphed over five Moorish Kings occurred in São Pedro das Cabeças, approximately five kilometres from the village of Castro Verde, and paved the way for the creation of the Kingdom of Portugal (in the

Treaty of Zamora The Treaty of Zamora (5 October 1143) recognized Portuguese independence from the Kingdom of León. Based on the terms of the accord, King Alfonso VII of León recognized the Kingdom of Portugal in the presence of his cousin King Afonso I of Po ...

in 1143). As the legend of the Battle describes, the battle lasted two days (between 24 and 25 July 1139) and was so excessively bloody that the waters of Ribeira de Cobres flowed the color of red.

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 ...

who was declared Prince of Portugal, after the

Battle of São Mamede The Battle of São Mamede ( pt, Batalha de São Mamede, ) took place on 24 June 1128 near Guimarães and is considered the seminal event for the foundation of the Kingdom of Portugal and the battle that ensured Portugal's Independence. Portugues ...

, defeated the Moorish kings (at the

), and was then proclaimed King upon the victory. But, although King Afonso was able to triumph, the region was never definitely secured by the Portuguese until the regin of King Sancho II, around 1234, when the Castle of Aljustrel was captured. Later, the Royal Basilica of Castro Verde was commissioned by King

Sebastian of Portugal Sebastian ( pt, Sebastião I ; 20 January 1554 – 4 August 1578) was King of Portugal from 11 June 1557 to 4 August 1578 and the penultimate Portuguese monarch of the House of Aviz. He was the son of João Manuel, Prince of Portugal, and hi ...

in 1573 to mark the Christian victory over the Moors, with the walls of the central nave covered in

azulejos ''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 ...

immortalizing the famous battle. The region of Castro Verde passed into the possession of the priory of the Comenda de Santiago, and its donatários, the

Dukes of Aveiro Duke of Aveiro ( pt, Duque de Aveiro) was a Portuguese title of nobility, granted in 1535 by King John III of Portugal to his 4th cousin, John of Lencastre, son of Infante George of Lencastre, a natural son of King John II of Portugal. Joh ...

. Castro Verde continued to operate as the central administrative centre and municipal seat, while Casével and Entradas won administrative autonomy. While mineral extraction continued to drive the economy, herding assumed a fundamental part of the regions economy as well. During the 16th and 17th Century, the ''Campos de Ourique'' became the destination for many herds from

Castela ''Castela'' is a genus of thorny shrubs and small trees in the family Simaroubaceae. Members of the genus are native to the Americas, especially the tropical regions. The generic name honours the French naturalist René Richard Louis Castel. ''C ...

and

Serra da Estrela Serra da Estrela () is the highest mountain range in Continental Portugal. Together with the Serra da Lousã it is the westernmost constituent range of the Sistema Central and also one of the highest in the system. It includes mainland Portugal's ...

, creating a new economic, social and cultural dimension to the municipality. Although the

human ecology Human ecology is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary study of the relationship between humans and their natural, social, and built environments. The philosophy and study of human ecology has a diffuse history with advancements in ecolog ...

of this territory has been marked by the settlement of many civilizations all based on mining, cereal cultivation and cattle/sheep grazing, it was only in the beginning of the 14th century that territories became organized as distinct economic entities within the new kingdom. During this ''post-reconquista'' era, the vast pasture-lands of the Castro Verde area were granted to nobility by

King Denis Denis (, ; 9 October 1261 – 7 January 1325 in Santarém), called the Farmer King (''Rei Lavrador'') and the Poet King (''Rei Poeta''), was King of Portugal. The eldest son of Afonso III of Portugal by his second wife, Beatrice of Castile, and ...

(''the Farmer King'') which resulted in the management of thousands of hectares under rotational cultivation to become the ''bread basket'' of Portugal and the most important

pastureland Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine ...

of the country. Over the centuries, the territory has been continually influenced by a

transhumance Transhumance is a type of pastoralism or nomadism, a seasonal movement of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions (''vertical transhumance''), it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and lower val ...

which has left a unique cultural identity in the form of architecture, arts, music, song, and poetry expressing the daily activities of a people living on the land. In the middle of the 19th century, the surrounding municipal districts were reorganized and Castro Verde was formalized within its current boundaries: it had received its town charter (''

Foral 200px, Foral of Castro Verde - Portugal The word ''foral'' ({{IPA-pt, fuˈɾaɫ, eu, plural: ''forais'') is a noun derived from the Portuguese word ''foro'', ultimately from Latin ''forum'', equivalent to Spanish ''fuero'', Galician '' foro'', ...

'') in 1510 by King

Manuel I of Portugal Manuel I (; 31 May 146913 December 1521), known as the Fortunate ( pt, O Venturoso), was King of Portugal from 1495 to 1521. A member of the House of Aviz, Manuel was Duke of Beja and Viseu prior to succeeding his cousin, John II of Portuga ...

. The municipality of Castro Verde developed its own particular cultural identity based on millenniums of interchange between cultural groups. From roots in mining and agricultural, the community has transformed into a city, with future plans focused on the integration of

and

Islamic architecture Islamic architecture comprises the architectural styles of buildings associated with Islam. It encompasses both secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam to the present day. The Islamic world encompasses a wide geographic ...

in modern eco-architecture. Cultural tourism has resurged to keep alive traditional art, music and poetry indigenous to the territory. The year 2010 marked year-long festivities to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the town charters of Castro Verde and Casével.

Geography

Physical geography

The Castro Verde area is made up of extensive areas of rolling hills, geomorphological structures referred to as a

peneplain 390px, Sketch of a hypothetical peneplain formation after an orogeny. In geomorphology and geology, a peneplain is a low-relief plain formed by protracted erosion. This is the definition in the broadest of terms, albeit with frequency the usage ...

s, which vary in altitude from 300 to 900 ft (100–300 m.) above sea level. The area has planar relief, with a medium altitude of approximately 200 metres; the lowest point is about 110 metres, in the civil parish of São Marcos da Atabueira, near the Ribeira de Cobres (in northeast frontier with the municipality of Beja). The highest point, at 299 metres, is located at a geodesic marker (Urza) on the Cerro da Bandeira, within the civil parish of Castro Verde. Slopes in this area are between 0-2% grade, although pronounced (15%) along the ravines of Cobres and Maria Delgada, and the vicinity of Ribeira de Oeiras (near the border with Almodôvar). In addition to these rivers, the municipality is crossed by other ''ribeiras'' (English: ''ravines'' or ''rivers''): Ribeira de Alvacar, Ribeira da Fontinha, Ribeira de Terges, Ribeira da Chada, Ribeira da Sete and Ribeira da Gata. The soils within the municipality are considered poor, having a reduced capacity to support agriculture, and thus limiting its productive use historically. The subsoils are made-up of essentially granular

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes ...

greywacke Greywacke or graywacke (German ''grauwacke'', signifying a grey, earthy rock) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness, dark color, and poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or lit ...

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

, and in some areas

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tec ...

, as well as rare volcanic metamorphic particulates with reduced permeability. Further, the municipality of Castro Verde is crossed by the

Iberian Pyrite Belt The Iberian Pyrite Belt is a vast geographical area with particular geological features that stretches along much of the south of the Iberian Peninsula, from Portugal to Spain. It is about 250 km long and 30–50 km wide, running northwe ...

, composed of a massive volcanogenic sulfide deposit (VMS) associated with the polymetallic flanks of volcanic cones in the form of

pyrite The mineral pyrite (), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula Fe S2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral. Pyrite's metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue giv ...

chalcopyrite Chalcopyrite ( ) is a copper iron sulfide mineral and the most abundant copper ore mineral. It has the chemical formula CuFeS2 and crystallizes in the tetragonal system. It has a brassy to golden yellow color and a hardness of 3.5 to 4 on the Mo ...

, sphalerite, galena and cassiterite, that begins in Aljustrel, spreads through the lower Alentejo and extends into southern Spain. At a time when Portugal was separated by the sea from the rest of the

, a series of events connected to active and hydrothermal volcanism, lead to the formation of the volcano-sedimentary Pyrite complex (when the landmass of Portugal collided into the Iberian peninsula). Castro Verde lies on one of the most important extractive deposits in Europe, that is responsible for sustaining the economy of the region, albeit an area with elevated risk of erosion.

Mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

activity, as a consequence, dates back thousands of years, with the remains of Roman mining structures identifying the importance of this area to the expansion of Roman metallurgy. In addition to sulfide ore, this southern area of Lusitania, was an abundant source of other minerals, such as

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

and

iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...

Ecoregions/protected areas

A large part of the municipality is covered by the European Union's Natura 2000 project; it is denoted as a

Special Protection Area A Special Protection Area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and certa ...

(SPA) for endangered species of steppe birds such as the

great bustard The great bustard (''Otis tarda'') is a bird in the bustard family, the only member of the genus ''Otis''. It breeds in open grasslands and farmland from northern Morocco, South and Central Europe, to temperate Central and East Asia. European po ...

and

lesser kestrel The lesser kestrel (''Falco naumanni'') is a small falcon. This species breeds from the Mediterranean across Afghanistan and Central Asia, to China and Mongolia. It is a summer migrant, wintering in Africa and Pakistan and sometimes even to Indi ...

Climate

Castro Verde 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'') with some Atlantic influence. It has hot dry summers and mild wet winters. The average annual temperature falls normally between . During the warmer months, maximum temperatures can reach or exceed ; during the winter, night temperatures can sometimes fall below the

freezing point The melting point (or, rarely, liquefaction point) of a substance is the temperature at which it changes state from solid to liquid. At the melting point the solid and liquid phase exist in equilibrium. The melting point of a substance depend ...

. Annual precipitation averages around , 32% of which is concentrated in the two wettest months, November and December, while July and August are the driest receiving some or no precipitation.

Human geography

Castro Verde Municipality is situated within an area commonly known as "Campo Branco", within the plains of the Alentejo that front the Serra do Caldeirão. It is located in the district of Beja, and limited to the north by the municipalities of Beja and Aljustrel, south by the municipality of Almodôvar, east by the municipality of Mértola and west by the municipality of Ourique. Over the past few decades, the population has generally concentrated in the larger urban communities. In 1970, the population of the municipality was 9004 inhabitants, decreasing to 7472 by 1981. Ten years later, it had grown slowly to 7786 residents, although the recent census (2001) indicated a small decrease (fixed at 7603 inhabitants). The literacy rates are relatively high, although 15.7% are considered illiterate.I.S.S. I.P – CDSS Beja, ed, 2008, p.4 This is accentuated by 70% of the resident population having attained only a primary school level of education.

Parishes

More than 50% of these residents live in the town of Castro Verde (4820 residents); the remaining towns account for the rest: Casével, 365 inhabitants; Entradas, 774 inhabitants; Santa Bárbara dos Padrões, 1271 inhabitants; and São Marcos da Atabueira, 373 inhabitants. With an area 567.2 km2, these communities are scattered in various medium to small localities divided into four civil parishes (Portuguese: ''

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 ...

''): * Castro Verde e Casével *

Entradas Entradas is a Portuguese town/parish within the boundaries of the municipality of Castro Verde, in the southern Alentejo region. The population in 2011 was 649, in an area of 76.23 km². It received its town charter from Manuel I of Portugal ...

* Santa Bárbara de Padrões * São Marcos da Ataboeira

Economy

Population growth has primarily been the result developments with the mining industry, and in particular the Neves-Corvo mining complex. Its activities, and related services, civil construction and public works have seen reciprocal growth in municipal services and population. There has also been a parallel growth in mining jobs related to this development, since 1979. There is a hierarchical distribution of the active workforce: 11.12% are employed in the primary sector, 32.7% in secondary industries, while a majority (56.18%) are employed in tertiary services. This distribution is generally maintained in all communities in the municipality, except Santa Bárbara dos Padrões, where the Neves-Corvo mine is the main employer, and

, where some agriculture and ranching occur.

Transport

Castro Verde is located in a privileged location along a corridor that connects the northern districts to the Algarve, and fundamental access to communication lines: The airports in Faro (100 km), Lisbon (190 km) and Sevilha (270 km) and the maritime port of Sines (95 km) are conveniently located to access other major centres. Connections to other locations within the country are made through the road network: to the Litoral Alentejo through Ourique (E.N. 123); to the coastal Algarve (along the A2 and I.C.1); to Lisbon via the A2; to Mértola (on the E.N. 123); to Almodôvar (along the E.N.2); and to Beja and Évora (on the I.P.2). Within the municipality, public transport connects all localities by at least one service (except on the weekends), and a national Express service connects Castro Verde communities to stations in Beja, Évora, Lisbon and Algarve, in addition to Tomar, Coimbra, Porto, Braga and Elvas.

Architecture

Royal Basilica of Castro Verde- Alentejo - Portugal

Civic

* Commemorative Pillory of the Battle of Ourique ('), originally erected along the northern side the Chapel of São Pedro in 1785, this marker was moved to the site of the municipal council hall around 1960. It had, around 9 May 1792, been modified to include a medallion with the image of Queen Maria II, whose bust was affixed under the words ''"...of the glorious apparition of Christ Our Father to our first monarch D. Afonso Henriques"''. During a hurricane, on the evening of the 7–8 December 1803, the monument was damaged at its narrowest point, but reconstructed. It was moved to the civic square in 1960, after being ruined by a lightning strike, wherein only the original staircase, base and the medallion survived the incident; * Source of Miracle of Saint Michael ('), is a temple enclosing a water well, located outside of Castro Verde is situated on the property ''Herdade do Mourão'' and dates from 1714, having been built during the same period as the Chapel of São Miguel. The chapel is situated nearby on higher ground, but both were originally constructed over pre-existing structures of unconfirmed dates. In 1982, historian Abílio Pereira de Carvalho, appointed by his regent in Lisbon to research local history (and teach at the local high school), discovered more than 230 manuscripts under the main altar of the ''Basilica Real of Castro Verde''. His study of the manuscripts revealed information relating the history of the ''Fonte de Milagre'' and Chapel of São Miguel, leading him to write a 174-page book, all of which relate to the two sites and the healing activities carried out there for centuries. Published in 1989, by the municipal authority of Castro Verde, the factual material found in the manuscripts details the connection between the two locales and the healing properties of the 'Fonte' (noting regular visits by pilgrims from around the

). The site's curative effects were of such significance that King John V (1706–1750) was compelled to become directly involved in the administration of the site. The administration relationship between the "Chapel" and "Fonte" no longer exists and the rich heritage has been hidden from recent history, laying dormant for more than 150 years. However the chapel has been classified by IGESPAR as a ''Property of Public Interest''; and in 2008, the ''Associação de S. Miguel para Medicina Bio-Energética'' was formed as a non-profit organisation to research the viability of reestablishing treatment protocols at the 'Fonte de Milagre' since it continues as a powerful area of therapeutic action. The site of the temple and water well has been in a phase recovery since 2009.

Religious

* Church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição ( pt, Igreja Matriz de Castro Verde/Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Conceição/Basílica Real de Castro Verde), the ''

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's Forum (Roman), forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building ...

'' dates back to the reign of King John V (1706–1750), and was erected over an older temple, that had already been remodelled in the reign of King Sebastian (1568–1578). Consisting of a central nave, lateral sacristies and two bell towers, one with a clock. Its interior walls are covered in panels of

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, r ...

representing the

and its ceiling is composed of polychromatic wood, with gold-leaf altars in the Baroque- and ''Joanino''-styles.King John was responsible for providing many silver and gold reliquaries extracted from

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and installed in the four-altars in the church * Church of Nossa Senhora dos Remédios ('), also referred to as the ''Church of Our Lord's Stimgmata'', is dedicated to ''Our Lady of Medicine'' and founded by

following the . During the 17th Century, the church was mostly in ruins, when

Philip II Philip II may refer to: * Philip II of Macedon (382–336 BC) * Philip II (emperor) (238–249), Roman emperor * Philip II, Prince of Taranto (1329–1374) * Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (1342–1404) * Philip II, Duke of Savoy (1438-1497) * Philip ...

decided to restore the church by collecting funds through a fair (which was first held in 1620); the Feira de Castro would persist until 1834, before it became a secular event of the Baixo Alentejo region. Oil paintings by Diogo Magina (1763–67), representing the ''Milagre de Ourique'' (''Miracle of Ourique''), where an apparition of

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

appeared to Afonso Henriques, in the vicinity of São Pedro das Cabeças, from Castro Verde. The single-nave church includes several azulejos depicting flowers, birds and windmills, that were created in the Netherlands. * Chapel of São Miguel (English: ''Chapel of Saint Michael'') – Constructed between 1715 and 1728, on the orders of King

João V Dom John V ( pt, João Francisco António José Bento Bernardo; 22 October 1689 – 31 July 1750), known as the Magnanimous (''o Magnânimo'') and the Portuguese Sun King (''o Rei-Sol Português''), was King of Portugal from 9 December 17 ...

, over the ruins an older church, the construction was remodeled on similar orders of Queen

Maria I of Portugal Dom (title), Dona Maria I (17 December 1734 – 20 March 1816) was Queen of Portugal from 24 February 1777 until her death in 1816. Known as Maria the Pious in Portugal and Maria the Mad in Brazil, she was the first undisputed queen regnant of Por ...

(1760–1779) with a revised interior of azulejos from Lisbon. * Chapel of São Sebastião ('), the simple, single-nave hermitage was also part of the "late", 17th century

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 ...

tradition of pilgrimage chapels (the chapel is the focus of annual celebrations on the feast day of Saint Sebastian, held on 20 January each year), recognizable for the painted vaulted retable; * Chapel of São Pedro das Cabeças ('), from Geraldos, the 15th-century temple is a rural sanctuary, and devotional site for pilgrims: it is located on the plain that was part of the mythical

, where Afonso Henriques triumphed over five Moorish Kings. The chapel is located at the high point along the plain, and was ordered constructed by King Sebastian, to pay homage to the first ''King of Portugal'' and his historical victory.

Notable citizens

Alfredo Luís da Costa Alfredo Luís da Costa (24 November 1883 – 1 February 1908) was a Portuguese publicist, editor, journalist, shop assistant and salesman who was part of the Portuguese Carbonária and a Mason, best remembered for being one of the two assassins (w ...

(1883 in Casével – 1908) a publicist, editor, journalist, store clerk and salesman, one of the two assassins of King

Carlos I of Portugal ''Dom'' Carlos I (; English: King Charles of Portugal; 28 September 1863 – 1 February 1908), known as the Diplomat ( pt, o Diplomata), the Martyr ( pt, o Martirizado), and the Oceanographer ( pt, o Oceanógrafo), among many other names, was ...

and

Luis Filipe, Prince Royal of Portugal Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

during the 1908

Lisbon Regicide The Lisbon Regicide or Regicide of 1908 ( pt, Regicídio de 1908) was the assassination of King Carlos I of Portugal and the Algarves and his heir-apparent, Luís Filipe, Prince Royal of Portugal, by assassins sympathetic to Republican interests ...

. * Rogério Contreiras (1922–1990) a former football goalkeeper with a three-year spell at Benfica *

Frederico Rosa Frederico Nobre Rosa (6 April 1957 – 17 February 2019), known simply as Frederico, was a Portuguese professional footballer who played as a central defender. Club career Frederico was born in Castro Verde, Baixo Alentejo. During his club car ...

(1957–2019) a professional footballer with 397 club caps

References

Notes Sources * * * * * * {{Authority control Towns in Portugal Populated places in Beja District Municipalities of Beja District