Sabugal () is a city and a municipality in the District of Guarda,

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 the ...

. A border municipality with

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

, the population of the municipality in 2011 was 12,544, in an area of 822.70 km². The city proper, located along the

Côa river The Côa River () is a tributary of the Douro River, in central and northeastern Portugal. It is one of the few Portuguese rivers that flows south to north. It flows through the municipalities of Sabugal, Almeida, Pinhel, Figueira de Castelo ...

, has a population of about 3,000 inhabitants. There is a castle in the city of Sabugal proper as well as other castles outside the urban centre in a number of places around the entire municipality of Sabugal. Those are the castles of Sortelha, Alfaiates, Vilar Maior and Vila do Touro. The municipal holiday is the Monday after Octave of Easter. It is also place for the Sabugal Dam built in 2000 and the river beach of Devesa, both located in the Côa river. At an elevation of roughly 750 m (2460 ft) above sea level, Sabugal is among the highest cities in Portugal.

History

It is famed for its Gothic

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified ...

with a pentagonal outer wall and an inner wall with five square towers overlooking the

. Besides its ancient castle, Sabugal was the location of the 1811 Battle of Sabugal, a

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spai ...

engagement of British troops under Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington) and French troops under the command of Marshal

André Masséna André Masséna, Prince of Essling, Duke of Rivoli (born Andrea Massena; 6 May 1758 – 4 April 1817) was a French military commander during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.Donald D. Horward, ed., trans, annotated, The F ...

, from which the British and their Portuguese allies emerged victorious. Sabugal has a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

heritage since at least the 16th century. In memory of the presence of Jewish communities in Sabugal, there is today an interpretation centre of the Jewish heritage, next to the castle.

Economy

The economy of Sabugal includes

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

;

animal husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, sta ...

; freshwater

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...

(i.e.

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salmo ...

fish farming);

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...

;

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 v ...

;

building materials Building material is material used for construction. Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, rocks, sand, wood, and even twigs and leaves, have been used to construct buildings. Apart from naturally occurring materials, many man-ma ...

industry (including

plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...

industry); and

food industry The food industry is a complex, global network of diverse businesses that supplies most of the food consumed by the world's population. The food industry today has become highly diversified, with manufacturing ranging from small, traditional, ...

(including

dairy industry A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

, chestnut processing,

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

production and bread making). Sabugal has made cheeses for centuries and nowadays it still is a cheese making center with both modern industrial and traditional hand made production of several types of cheeses, from goat milk cheese to cow milk cheese. Lactibar is among the main dairies of Sabugal, its cheese brand ''Queijo Torre'' is among the most sold in several local markets in Portugal.

Tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

is also important in Sabugal. Thanks to the old

spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneo ...

s in its vicinities, which date back to the

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–5 ...

although its earliest written reference goes back to the 18th century, Sabugal has become a thermal spa destination displaying in the 21st century a modern spa hotel infrastructure (i.e. Cró Hotel & Thermal Spa).

Education

The city of Sabugal has all types of schools from

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

to the 12th grade

Higher education is available in the neighboring city of Guarda, located about 35 km away by road, which is the capital of the

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

Sports

Sabugal is home to Sporting Clube do Sabugal, a multisports club founded on March 25, 1939. It has

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, Kick (football), kicking a Football (ball), ball to score a Goal (sport), goal. Unqualified, Football (word), the word ''football'' normally means the form of football tha ...

and

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is t ...

teams as well as a

judo is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

department. The main men's football team plays in the Sabugal Municipality Stadium (''Estádio Municipal do Sabugal'') whose the owner is the Sabugal City Council.

Parishes

Administratively, the municipality (''

concelho Concelho () is the Portuguese-language term for municipality, referring to the territorial subdivision in local government. In comparison, the word ''município'' () refers to the organs of State. This differentiation is still in use in Portugal ...

'') is divided into 30 civil parishes ('' freguesias''): * Águas Belas * Aldeia da Ponte * Aldeia da Ribeira, Vilar Maior e Badamalos * Aldeia do Bispo (Vale dos Caidos) * Aldeia Velha * Alfaiates * Baraçal * Bendada * Bismula * Casteleiro * Cerdeira * Fóios * Lageosa da Raia * Forcalhos * Malcata * Nave * Pousafoles do Bispo, Pena Lobo e Lomba * Quadrazais * Quintas de São Bartolomeu * Rapoula do Côa * Rebolosa * Rendo * Ruvina, Ruivós e Vale das Éguas * Sabugal e Aldeia de Santo António (city) * Santo Estêvão e Moita * Seixo do Côa e Vale Longo * Sortelha * Souto (town) * Vale de Espinho * Vila Boa * Vila do Touro

Notable people

* Manuel António Pina (1943–2012) a Portuguese journalist and writer * Kim Prisu (born 1962 in Aldeia da Dona) a Portuguese painter. * Joaquim Sapinho (born 1965) a Portuguese film director.

References

External links

Municipality official websitePhotos from Sabugal
{{Authority control Cities in Portugal Municipalities of Guarda District