Paço de Arcos () is a locality of
Oeiras. In 2013, the parish of Paço de Arcos merged into the new parish
Oeiras e São Julião da Barra, Paço de Arcos e Caxias. The population in 2011 was 15,315, in an area of 3.39 km
2.
Eurostat
/ref> It was elevated to town by a decree on December 7, 1926.
Its name comes from the Palácio dos Arcos located at the entrance to the village, where king D. Manuel I of Portugal
Manuel I (; 31 May 146913 December 1521), known as the Fortunate (), was King of Portugal from 1495 to 1521. A member of the House of Aviz, Manuel was Duke of Beja and Viseu prior to succeeding his cousin, John II of Portugal, as monarch. Manu ...
watched Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama ( , ; – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India, first European to reach India by sea.
Da Gama's first voyage (1497–1499) was the first to link ...
's caravels leave for India. Nowadays, the Portuguese maritime academy – Escola Náutica Infante D. Henrique – is based there. It's also the base of the private business jet company NetJets Europe.
Paço de Arcos is where Quinta da Fonte is located, one of the biggest office parks in Europe, being the home of companies such as DLL Group, Hewlett-Packard
The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...
, among others.
The town is featured in Robert Wilson's 1999 novel A Small Death in Lisbon, as both the residence of the main character, Inspector José "Zé" Coelho, and where a body is found.
Items of interest in the locality include Lime kilns
A lime kiln is a kiln used for the calcination of limestone (calcium carbonate) to produce the form of lime (material), lime called ''quicklime'' (calcium oxide). The chemical equation for this chemical reaction, reaction is: Calcium carbonat ...
() dating back to the Middle Ages.
References
Oeiras e São Julião da Barra, Paço de Arcos e Caxias
Seaside resorts in Portugal
Former parishes of Oeiras, Portugal
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