Vilar Formoso is a town and civil parish in the municipality of
Almeida, Portugal. The population in 2011 was 2,219,
[Instituto Nacional de Estatística]
/ref> in an area of 15.14 km2.[Áreas das freguesias, concelhos, distritos e país]
/ref> One of the most important crossings on the Portugal–Spain border is located just next to the town.
Vilar Formoso has a railroad station where the Lisbon-Hendaye express stops daily. The station is covered with tile murals depicting scenes from all over Portugal, including a rare skiing scene.
History
Portugal and Spain signed the Schengen Agreement
The Schengen Agreement ( , ) is a treaty which led to the creation of Europe's Schengen Area, in which internal border checks have largely been abolished. It was signed on 14 June 1985, near the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, by five of the t ...
in June 1991 which came into effect on 26 March 1995, making Portugal and Spain part of the Schengen area
The Schengen Area ( , ) is an area comprising 27 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. Being an element within the wider area of freedom, security and ...
and thus the border then became an Open border
An open border is a border that enables free movement of people (and often of goods) between jurisdictions with no restrictions on movement and is lacking substantive border control. A border may be an open border due to intentional legislation ...
, making travel between countries of the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
unrestricted, the customs booths became unmanned and traffic passed through freely.
During World War II, in June 1940, the railway station at Vilar Formoso was briefly the location for the arrival in Portugal by train and car of numerous Jewish and other refugees escaping from the Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...
. The Vilar Formoso Fronteira da Paz
The Vilar Formoso Fronteira da Paz (Frontier of Peace) memorial is a museum devoted to the role played by the Portuguese border town of Vilar Formoso in the reception of Jewish refugees and others from France and elsewhere who were escaping Nazi ...
memorial museum, situated at the station, records these events.
From 16 March 2020 to 1 June 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, Portugal and Spain reintroduced border controls, with tourists unable to cross, but cross-border workers and goods being still allowed to pass.[
]
File:Portugal-España (Vilar Formoso).JPG, Fountain near the customs building, on the Portugal—Spain border
File:Vliar Formoso train station mosaic.jpg, Mosaic depicting skiing, on north side of Vilar Formoso train station
References
Freguesias of Almeida, Portugal
Portugal–Spain border crossings
Towns in Portugal
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