Oliveira do Hospital () is a municipality in the district of

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, and Braga, it is the largest cit ...

, in the central part of continental

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 th ...

. The population in 2011 was 20,855,Instituto Nacional de Estatística
/ref> in an area of 234.52 km².

History

Anta do Pinheiro dos Abraços (Oliveira do Hospital)112

Ruínas Romanas de Bobadela (Oliveira do Hospital)108

Inhabited by ancient civilizations, Oliveira do Hospital has

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 lett ...

settlements,

Visigothic 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 ...

relics, noble

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 ...

mansions as well as ancient villages built of slate. One can find

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

and

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 ...

burial grounds and genuine religious and rural relics such as the large granite outcroppings used as threshing floors, the Holy Cross Church and the Ferreiros Chapel, a Roman Gothic style temple dating to the 13th century and the Church of Sao Gião, known as the cathedral of its region due to its richly carved and painted 18th century

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 ...

interior.

Geography

It is located at the northern edge of the district of

in the foothills of the

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 ...

Mountains, bisected by the Alva and Alvoco River valleys. Administratively, the municipality is divided into 16 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 ...

''): * Aldeia das Dez * Alvoco das Várzeas * Avô * Bobadela * Ervedal e Vila Franca da Beira * Lagares * Lagos da Beira e Lajeosa * Lourosa * Meruge * Nogueira do Cravo * Oliveira do Hospital e São Paio de Gramaços * Penalva de Alva e São Sebastião da Feira * Santa Ovaia e Vila Pouca da Beira * São Gião * Seixo da Beira * Travanca de Lagos

Economy

Its fertile geographic position favors agriculture, which is the dominant activity of the region with

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented grapes. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different ...

and

cheese Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During productio ...

s being important products. Regarding its business sector, confections, machine tools, packaging and toys are the most important. Oliveira do Hospital is known for its natural environment, cuisine, arts and crafts.

Transport

Although Oliveira do Hospital is well within the interior of the country, transportation services are quite adequate and have been increasing as befits a growing region. There are a number of roads to the coast and other cities, the best known being the scenic Estrada da Beira. The Bridge with Three Entrances (Ponte das Três Entradas), a very rare three-way bridge, crosses the Alva River at Oliveira do Hospital.

Notable people

* Brás Garcia de Mascarenhas (1596 in Avô - 1656 in Avô) soldier, poet and writer. * Dulce Pássaro (born 1953 in Oliveira do Hospital) an engineer, politician and Govt. Minister, 2009/2011 * Carlos Martins (born 1982 in Oliveira do Hospital) footballer with 327 club caps and 17 for

* Tomané Nunes (born 1987 in Nogueira do Cravo) a retired footballer with 119 club caps * João Martins (born 1988 in Oliveira do Hospital) footballer with 199 club caps

References

External links

Photos from Oliveira do Hospital
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oliveira Do Hospital Cities in Portugal Populated places in Coimbra District Municipalities of Coimbra District