Leiria District
The District of Leiria ( pt, Distrito de Leiria ) is a district located in Centro region of Portugal, divided between the traditional provinces of Beira Litoral and Estremadura. It borders on the north with district of Coimbra, on the east with ...
, Portugal. The population in 2021 was 39,032,Instituto Nacional de Estatística /ref> in an area of 187.25 km². The city itself has a population of 32,330.
It is located right in the middle of the 700-year-old
Leiria
Leiria (; cel-x-proto, ɸlāryo) is a city and municipality in the Central Region of Portugal. It is the 2nd largest city in that same region, with a municipality population of 128,640 (as of 2021) in an area of . It is the seat of its own distr ...
pine forest covering 100 square kilometres, and near excellent beaches such as
Praia da Vieira
Praia (, Portuguese for "beach") is the capital and largest city of Cape Verde.Nazaré, and
São Pedro de Moel
São Pedro de Moel is a beach community dependent on the city, ''freguesia'' and municipality of Marinha Grande in the District of Leiria, Portugal. According to the 2011 Portuguese Census, it has 389 inhabitants.
It is located within the Pinh ...
.
The present Mayor is Aurélio Ferreira, elected by the independent movement +MPM, a coalition formed by MPM and +Concelho. 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 ...
.
Parishes
Administratively, the municipality is divided into 3 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 ...
''):
* Marinha Grande
* Moita
* Vieira de Leiria
History
The Pinhal de Leiria forest was first planted in the 13th century by Dom Afonso III and expanded by Dom Dinis as a barrier against the sands and to supply timber to the maritime industry. In October 2017, a large-scale forest fire devastated about 86% of the area planted with pine trees. Since there, a lot of efforts promoted by public and private entities have tried to reforest the burned vegetation, but most of the landscape is still ruined.
The Marinha Grande glass manufacturing industry was first established in the middle of the 18th century. The Royal Glass Factory (Real Fabrica de Vidros) was bought by an English entrepreneur William Stephens who developed the factory and the business under the protection of the
Marques de Pombal
Marques or Marqués may refer to:
* Marques (grape), another name for the Spanish Portuguese wine grape Loureira
* Bark ''Marques'', a tall ship
People
*Marques (surname), a Portuguese surname
* Marqués (surname), a Castillian and Catalan surn ...
. The wood from the pine forest was used to fuel the factories. The former palatial home of William Stephens now contains the Museu do Vidro da Marinha Grande which houses glassware from the 17th to the 20th century. In 1826, the factory was given to the state and became one of the country's main producers of traditionally made fine crystal.
On 18 January 1934 there was insurrection in several locations of Portugal, in particular Marinha Grande, that aimed at taking down the authoritarian '' Estado Novo'' regime. The trigger was legislation in 1933 that dissolved trade unions and banned strikes. The revolts were easily suppressed by the regime. The strikers in Marinha Grande suffered a particularly heavy punishment. When, two years later, the regime inaugurated the Tarrafal prison, in the Portuguese colony of
, a third of the early prisoners came from Marinha Grande, and some would eventually die there due to the camp's bad conditions.
Economy
Marinha Grande is Portugal's biggest glass manufacturer, and it is also the European capital for the moulding industry, with 250 companies operating there, rightfully giving the town the nickname 'The Crystal City'.
The city is served by two highways (A8 connecting to Lisbon and A17 connecting to Aveiro and Oporto) and a train line. It is a 1-hour 15-minute drive away from
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
, 10 minutes away from
Leiria
Leiria (; cel-x-proto, ɸlāryo) is a city and municipality in the Central Region of Portugal. It is the 2nd largest city in that same region, with a municipality population of 128,640 (as of 2021) in an area of . It is the seat of its own distr ...
and 45 minutes from
Coimbra
Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of .
The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto Metropolitan Area, Porto, and Bra ...
.
Tourism
The pine forest is an aromatic forest and has waymarked paths for walkers. It has several campsites within it. There is a cycle route from Marinha Grande to São Pedro de Moel on the coast. There are tours around the glass works and to the glass museums.
Estádio Municipal da Marinha Grande
Estádio Municipal da Marinha Grande is a football stadium in Marinha Grande, Portugal. It hosts football matches for Atlético Clube Marinhense and hosted the home matches of U.D. Leiria in 2002-03 when Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa was bei ...
, a venue shared in past with former Primeira Liga club,
U.D. Leiria
União Desportiva de Leiria, commonly known as União de Leiria (), is a Portuguese football club based in Leiria, central Portugal. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. M ...
.
Notable people
* William Stephens (1731–1803) an English entrepreneur and glass manufacturer, he reopened and operated the royal glassworks factory in Marinha Grande; it had fallen into disuse.
*
José Gregório
José Gregório (born 19 March 1908, in Marinha Grande; died March 1961 in Prague) was a Portuguese glassmaker in Marinha Grande, a center of the glass industry in the country, a trade unionist and a member of the Portuguese Communist Party. He bec ...
(1908-1961) a glassmaker in Marinha Grande, a trade unionist and
Portuguese Communist Party
The Portuguese Communist Party ( pt, Partido Comunista Português, , PCP) is a communist, Marxist–Leninist political party in Portugal based upon democratic centralism. The party also considers itself patriotic and internationalist,Portugue ...
activist.
* António Garrido (1932–2014) a Portuguese football referee.
*
Orlando Gonçalves
Orlando Gonçalves (born 13 April 1938) is a Portuguese wrestler. He competed at the 1960 Summer Olympics and the 1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Mun ...
(born 1938) a Portuguese wrestler, competed at the
1960
It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism.
Events
January
* Ja ...
and
1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...
*
Margarida Balseiro Lopes
Ana Margarida Balseiro de Sousa Lopes (born 24 September 1989) is a Portuguese politician. She was a deputy in the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal as a member of the liberal-conservative Social Democratic Party (PSD) and a former president ...
Hugo Gaspar
Hugo Fernando Lucas Gaspar (born 2 September 1982) is a Portuguese volleyball player who plays for Benfica and the Portugal national team. He became the ''Best Scorer'' at the second 2008 Olympic Qualification Tournament in Espinho, where Por ...
(born 1982 in Vieira de Leiria) a Portuguese volleyball player