Ourém (, ), formerly known as Vila Nova de Ourém, is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the district of Santarém in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. The population in 2011 was 45,932,Instituto Nacional de Estatística
/ref> in an area of 416.68 km². The municipality of Ourém contains two cities: Ourém (about 12,000 residents) and Fátima (about 11,000 inhabitants). The municipality is bordered by the municipalities of Pombal (to the north),

Alvaiázere Alvaiázere () is a List of municipalities of Portugal, municipality in the district of Leiria (district), Leiria in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 7,287,Ferreira do Zêzere Ferreira do Zêzere (, ) is a portuguese municipality in the historical Ribatejo portuguese province and in Santarém District The District of Santarém ( ) is a district of Portugal, located in Portugal's West and Tagus Valley region. The di ...

and

Tomar Tomar (), also known in English as Thomar (the ancient name of Tomar), is a Portugal, Portuguese city and a municipality in the historical Ribatejo Portuguese Provinces of Portugal, province, and in Santarém District, Santarém district. The to ...

(to the east),

Torres Novas Torres Novas () is a Portugal, Portuguese Concelho, municipality in the district of Santarém (district), Santarém, in the Médio Tejo Subregion, Médio Tejo of the Oeste e Vale do Tejo region. The population of the municipality was approximately ...

(to the southeast), Alcanena (to the southwest), and Batalha and

Leiria Leiria () is a city and municipality in the Central Region, Portugal, Central Region of Portugal. It is the 2nd largest city in that same region, after Coimbra, with a municipality population of 128,640 (as of 2021) in an area of . It is the seat o ...

(to the west). The main historical attraction of the municipality is the mighty Castle of Ourém. Nevertheless, millions of faithful

Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

come to the parish of Fátima every year to visit Cova da Iria, the site where three child shepherds are said to have had visions of

Our Lady of Fátima Our Lady of Fátima (, ; formally known as Our Lady of the Holy Rosary of Fátima) is a Catholic title of Mary, mother of Jesus, based on the Marian apparitions reported in 1917 by three shepherd children at the Cova da Iria in Fátima, Portu ...

in 1917. The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima has become one of the largest religious tourism sites in the world. The present Mayor is Luís Miguel Albuquerque, elected by the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

. The municipal holiday is June 20.

History

A fortification existed in the region of Ourém since at least the period of Muslim domination. The area was reconquered by Christians in 1136, and the town was donated in 1178 by the first king of Portugal, Afonso Henriques, to his third daughter, Princess Theresa. The princess granted it a letter of feudal rights (

foral 200px, Foral of Castro Verde - Portugal The ''Carta de Foral'', or simply ''Foral'', was a royal document in Portugal and its former empire, whose purpose was to establish a ''concelho'' (Council) and regulate its administration, borders and priv ...

) in 1180, to promote the settlement and development of the village. Under the

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

s, the village was apparently called ''Abdegas'', but during the times of the

Reconquista The ''Reconquista'' (Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese for ) or the fall of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian Reconquista#Northern Christian realms, kingdoms waged ag ...

(12th century) it was called ''Portus de Auren'', from which the name ''Ourém'' was later derived. According to popular myth, the name of the village is actually derived from a Moorish Princess who converted to Christianity under the name of ''Oureana''. The town's historical nucleus developed around the Castle of Ourém, which during the Reconquista served as watchpost for the Castle of Leiria, an important stronghold located nearby. In the mid-14th century, King Peter I turned Ourém and its lands into a

County A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

. The third Count of Ourém was the celebrated

Nuno Álvares Pereira '' Dom'' Nuno Álvares Pereira, OCarm (; 24 June 1360 – 1 November 1431) was a very successful Portuguese general who had a decisive role in the 1383–1385 Crisis that assured Portugal's independence from Castile. He later became a my ...

, the knight who led the Portuguese army to victory against the

Castilians Castilians () are the inhabitants of the historical region of Castile in central Spain. However, the boundaries of the region are disputed. Not all people in the regions of the medieval Kingdom of Castile or Crown of Castile think of themsel ...

in the

Battle of Aljubarrota The Battle of Aljubarrota was fought between the Kingdom of Portugal and the Crown of Castile on 14 August 1385. Forces commanded by King John I of Portugal and his general Nuno Álvares Pereira, with the support of English allies, opposed the a ...

in 1385. Under Count Afonso (1402–1460), fourth Count of Ourém, the town flourished. To accommodate his court, Count Afonso remodelled the old-fashioned castle and built a palace inside it following the trends in 15th-century Italian military architecture. The ruins of the palace and castle are the main historical and touristic attraction of the town nowadays. Count Afonso is buried in the

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

of the main church of Ourém in a magnificent Gothic tomb created by one of Portugal's main sculptors of the time, Diogo Pires-o-Velho. After reaching its peak in the 15th century, the town entered a period of relative decline. The town and castle were greatly damaged by the

1755 Lisbon earthquake The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon earthquake, impacted Portugal, the Iberian Peninsula, and Northwest Africa on the morning of Saturday, 1 November, All Saints' Day, Feast of All Saints, at around 09:40 local time. In ...

and the Napoleonic Invasions. Until its elevation to the status of a city on August 16, 1991, Ourém was known as Vila Nova de Ourém.

Legend

The legend of the name of the village and Oureana is retold by ''Friar Bernardino de Brito'' in his Chronicle of the Order of Cister (1602): In a surprise attack on the St John's Day in 1158, a Christian knight, ''Gonçalo Hermigues'' and his companions kidnapped a Moorish princess with the famous Arab name of

Fatima Fatima bint Muhammad (; 605/15–632 CE), commonly known as Fatima al-Zahra' (), was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija. Fatima's husband was Ali, the fourth of the Rashidun caliphs and the first Shia imam. ...

. The knight took Fatima to a small village of the recently created Kingdom of Portugal, in the Serra de Aire hills. The princess fell in love with the Christian knight and decided to become herself a Christian, taking the name of Oureana. After their marriage, the princess received as prize the town which she called Ourém, derived from her own name. The name of the parish of Fátima of Ourém is probably related to this legend.

Parishes

Administratively, the municipality is divided into 13 civil parishes ('' freguesias''): * Alburitel * Atouguia * Caxarias * Espite * Fátima *

Freixianda, Ribeira do Farrio e Formigais Freixianda, Ribeira do Farrio e Formigais is a civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes ...

* Gondemaria e Olival * Matas e Cercal * Nossa Senhora da Piedade * Nossa Senhora das Misericórdias * Rio de Couros e Casal dos Bernardos * Seiça * Urqueira

Population

International relations

Ourém is twinned with the following cities: *

Le Plessis-Trévise Le Plessis-Trévise () is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. History The commune of Le Plessis-Trévise was created on 7 July 1899 by detaching a part of the territory of La Queue-en-Bri ...

, France (since 1992) * São Filipe, Cape Verde (since 1999) *

Altötting Altötting (, , in contrast to "Neuötting, New Ötting"; , ) is a Town#Germany, town in Bavaria, capital of the Altötting (district), district Altötting of Germany. For 500 years it has been the scene of religious pilgrimages by Catholics in ...

, Germany (since 2009) *

Częstochowa Częstochowa ( , ) is a city in southern Poland on the Warta with 214,342 inhabitants, making it the thirteenth-largest city in Poland. It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship. However, Częstochowa is historically part of Lesser Poland, not Si ...

, Poland (since 1997) * Monapo, Mozambique (since 2001) *

Lourdes Lourdes (, also , ; ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for its Château fort, a ...

, France * Russells Point, USA (since 2018)

Cooperation agreements

Pitești Pitești () is a city in Romania, located on the river Argeș (river), Argeș. The capital and largest city of Argeș County, it is an important commercial and industrial center, as well as the home of two universities. Pitești is situated in th ...

, Romania (since 2011)

Notable people

* Artur de Oliveira Santos (1884 in Ourém – 1955) a journalist, local politician and the Municipal Administrator of Ourém in 1917 during the time of the apparitions of

* Francisco and Jacinta Marto (1908–1919) & (1910–1920) siblings from Aljustrel, with their cousin Lúcia dos Santos (1907–2005) witnessed three apparitions of the

Angel of Peace The ''Angel of Peace'' () is a monument in the Bogenhausen district of Munich. The architects were Heinrich Düll, Georg Pezold and Max Heilmaier. Structure The ''Angel of Peace'' is part of the Maximilian Park and a ''point de vue'' at the e ...

in 1916 and several apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Cova da Iria in 1917 * José Luandino Vieira (born 1935 in Lagoa de Furadouro) an Angolan writer of short fiction and novels * Nuno Laranjeiro (born 1983 in Ourém) a former footballer with 347 club caps

References

External links

Municipality official websiteOurém Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ourem Municipality Cities in Portugal Populated places in Santarém District Municipalities of Santarém District