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Matosinhos

Coordinates: 41°11′N 8°42′W / 41.183°N 8.700°W / 41.183; -8.700
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(Redirected from Matosinhos Municipality)
Not to be confused with Matozinhos.
Matosinhos
Municipality
Flag of Matosinhos
Flag
Coat of arms of Matosinhos
Coat of arms
Coordinates: 41°11′N 8°42′W / 41.183°N 8.700°W / 41.183; -8.700
Country Portugal
RegionNorte
Metropolitan areaPorto
DistrictPorto
Parishes4
Government
 • PresidentLuísa Salgueiro (PS)
Area
 • Total62.42 km2 (24.10 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)
 • Total172,557
 • Density2,800/km2 (7,200/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC±00:00 (WET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+01:00 (WEST)
Websitehttp://www.cm-matosinhos.pt

Matosinhos (Portuguese pronunciation: [mɐtuˈziɲuʃ] ⓘ) is a city and a municipality in the district of Porto in Portugal.

The municipality covers an area of approximately 62.42 square kilometres (24.10 sq mi)[1] and in 2011, it hosted a population 172,557 people[2]. It is bordered by the municipalities of Porto to the south, Maia to the east and Vila do Conde to the north and the Atlantic Ocean lies to its west. It is a part of the Porto metropolitan area, the second largest urban area in Portugal.

The city of Matosinhos had 45,703[3] inhabitants in 2001 and is the seat of the municipality. It is located on the southern shore of the mouth of the Leça River, only 8 km away from Porto's city center. There are two other cities within the municipality, São Mamede de Infesta and Senhora da Hora, both located east of Matosinhos and just north of Porto municipality.

History

[edit]
The facade of the Monastery of Leça de Balio
The public square and the Church of Matosinhos
A turn-of-the-century perspective in Matosinhos: part of the annual sardine fishing season
IKEA in Matosinhos
On the Matosinhos waterfront, She Changes sculpture by artist Janet Echelman

The oldest traces of human settlement in this territory extend back thousands of years and include instruments and Paleolithic artifacts found in beaches such as Boa Nova and Almeiriga. The land's settlement began around 5000 years ago, during the Neolithic, as evidenced from various funeral monuments and dolmens in Lavra, Perafita, Leça do Balio, Santa Cruz do Bispo, Guifões and São Gens.[4]

At the end of the Bronze Age, settlements expanded into castros, proto-urban agglomerations at high altitudes. These existed in the northwestern regions of the Iberian Peninsula and predominated until the 1st century. Remnants of castros remain throughout the municipality, the most notable being Castro of Monte Castelo in Guifões, by the estuary of the Leça river.[4]

After the Roman conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in the 1st century BC, the territory's was developed to support communication and commerce. New roads and bridges were built, including a road between the roman cities of Cale (Porto) and Bracara Augusta (Braga) and Ponte da Pedra, a bridge over the Leça river. The navigability of the estuary of the Leça River permitted goods from the Roman Empire to be discharged in the area of Castro of Monte Castelo and distributed to other sites within the region[4]. Around the 4th and 5th centuries, a Roman villa and salt production structures were built in Angeiras (Lavra), in the north of the municipality.[5]

Between the 5th and 7th centuries, the area became a part of the Kingdom of the Suebi and later the Visigothic Kingdom. During this period, Castro of Monte Castelo was abandoned, while the previous Roman settlement in Angeiras remained populated and included a monastery, as referred in the administrative document Parochiale suevorum. [5][6]

During the 10th century, the Monastery of Bouças was founded in Bouças de Baixo, in the northeast of the modern city of Matosinhos[4]. It housed the image of Bom Jesus (Good Jesus) of Bouças (nowadays of Matosinhos), an important religious item locally.[7] A settlement gradually grew around the monastery, leading to the creation of the administrative centre of the Julgado de Bouças in the 13th century.[4] When Portugal was established in the 12th century, a settlement called Vila de Matesinum already existed. One of the first official records referring to Matusiny dates from 1258, the result of Inquiries of Afonso III. At that time Matosinhos was a humble location, part of the parish of Sandim[citation needed].

Also during the 10th century, the Monastery of Leça do Balio was established near Ponte da Pedra. In the 12th century, likely between 1112 and 1128, Theresa, countess of Portugal donates the monastery to the Ordem Militar dos Cavaleiros Hospitalários (the Portuguese version of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta), where they establish their first presence in Portugal. In 1140, Afonso I, king of Portugal attributes jurisdiction to the order of Malta jurisdiction over the parishes of Leça, Custóias, Barreiros, Gueifães and S. Mamede.[8] The Order of Malta also maintained several other properties, that included monasteries of Lavra, Moreira and Aldoar.[4]

By the end of the 14th century, the small community of Franciscan friars installed themselves along the beach of Boa Nova, founding the Oratory of São Clement das Penhas.[4] This small convent would give rise to the Convent of Conceição de Leça, which was founded in the 15th century, where the municipal park of Quinta da Conceição exists nowadays.[4]

In 1514, Matosinhos received a foral (charter) from King Manuel I, asserting it as an important agricultural center. Matosinhos becomes an important supplier of goods to Porto, at a time when the parishes of Ramalde, Foz and Aldoar were part of the territory of Matosinhos.[4]

During the 16th century, the church of Matosinhos was built and the image of Bom Jesus (Good Jesus) was transfered there from the Monastery of Bouças.[7] As people from Matosinhos emigrate to Brazil during the Age of Discoveries, the cult to the image grows abroad, culminating with the founding of the Confraria do São Salvador de Bouças during the 17th century.[citation needed] Supported by the growing worship and the gold mined in Brazil, the church was remodeled in the 18th century by Italian architect Nicolau Nasoni.[7] The architect had worked in other projects in the municipality, such as the estates of Chantre (Leça do Balio) and Bispo (Santa Cruz do Bispo), as well as the Chapel of São Francisco (in the Quinta do Conceição).[4]

In 1832, during the Liberal Wars an army under the command of D. Pedro disembarked in the beach in Arnosa do Pampelido, starting a military offensive in continental Portugal that would depose the conservative traditionalists in favor of the liberal constitutionalists. In 1862, an obelisk made of granite was inaugurated celebrating this victory, including a speech that the king is believed to have said prior to disembarking.[4][9]

At the same time, a fishing community had already begun to turn the coast of Matosinhos into an important centre for conserve industry, establishing a principal motor for development in the municipality, that would drive the economy until the late 20th century.[4]

In 1833, during the administrative reforms, the municipality of Bouças was created, with its seat (after 1836) in the locality of Senhora da Hora, which was elevated to the category of Vila de Bouças.[4] It remained the seat until 1853, when the town of Matosinhos was established, which included the civil parishes of Matosinhos and Leça da Palmeira, which became the municipal seat.[4] The reorganization resulted in the reorganization of Bouças, which began to incorporate parishes of Lavra and Perafita, which had been part of Maia, as well as the parishes of Leça do Balio, Custóias and São Mamede de Infesta (which were, until 1834, part of the old Couto de Leça).[4] In 1895, when they constructed the circulation roadway, the parishes of Aldoar, Ramalde and Nevogilde were de-annexed and integrated into the municipality of Porto.[4]

In 1909, the municipality solicited authorization to change its name to the municipality of Matosinhos, as locality of Bouças had lost its significance: it was ratified on 6 May 1909.[4]

The need to establish a sheltered port, resulted in the construction of the Port of Leixões at the end of the 19th century.[4] This marked the beginning of the process of the city's transformation, based on the sardine fishery and conserve industry, and the elevation of the town to the status of city on 28 May 1984.[4]

In 2005, the municipality funded a public sculpture to be built in the Waterfront Plaza of Matosinhos. The resulting sculpture is entitled She Changes [10] by American artist, Janet Echelman,[11] and spans the height of 50x150x150 meters.

Geography

[edit]
A view of the beaches of Matosinhos

Administratively, the municipality is divided into 4 civil parishes (freguesias):[12]

International relations

[edit]

Twin towns – sister cities

[edit]
See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Portugal

Matosinhos is twinned with:[13]

Since 1994, Matosinhos has had a cooperation agreement with Luanda, Angola.[13]

Economy

[edit]
The view of the economic heart of the municipality: the Port of Leixões
Oil refinery of Galp Energia in Leça da Palmeira.

The international Leixões Cruise Terminal and a large oil refinery of Galp Energia, are located in Leça da Palmeira, Matosinhos. EFACEC, a leading Portuguese company in the electromechanics industry, is headquartered in the city. Pedro Hispano Hospital (after Pedro Hispano), is one of the most comprehensive state-run hospitals of Portugal, and serves the entire Porto Metropolitan Area.

In 2020, Galp Energia announced that the oil refinery would cease functions starting in 2021, deciding to focus all operations in the oil refinery in Sines instead.

Sport

[edit]

Football

[edit]

Matosinhos municipality is home to Portuguese top flight club Leixões Sport Club as well as Leça Futebol Clube and other minor clubs that include:

Futsal

[edit]

Motorsport

[edit]
  • World Rally Championship – Rally de Portugal an annual event held in May over 3 days with special stages contested in the surrounding areas including Guimarães Castle, Lousada rallycross circuit, Viano do Castelo, Braga, Cabreira Mountains and Fafe.[14]

Notable people

[edit]
Manuel da Silva Passos, 1886
Fernando Nogueira, 2015
Catarina Pereira, 2008

Sport

[edit]
  • João Fonseca (born 1948), known as Fonseca, a retired football goalkeeper with 390 club caps
  • Tamagnini Manuel Gomes Batista (born 1949), known as Nené a retired footballer with 421 club caps and 41 for Portugal
  • Chico Faria (1949–2004), a Portuguese footballer with 334 club caps
  • Lúcio Pereira (born 1954), a Portuguese retired football goalkeeper with 466 club caps
  • Zé Beto (1960–1990) a Portuguese goalkeeper with 120 club caps
  • Sérgio Nunes (born 1974) a Portuguese retired footballer with 465 club caps
  • Pedro Soeiro (born 1975) a Portuguese former professional road cyclist
  • Carlos Fangueiro (born 1976), known as Fangueiro, a retired footballer with 373 club caps
  • Hélder Sousa (born 1977) a Portuguese former footballer with 583 club caps
  • Filipe Anunciação (born 1979) a football manager and former player with 362 club caps
  • Nuno Santos (born 1980) a former footballer with 389 club caps
  • Sérgio André Oliveira da Silva (born 1980), known as Pedras, a former footballer with 506 club caps
  • Hugo Moreira (born 1982) a Portuguese retired footballer with 357 club caps
  • Bruno China (born 1982), a Portuguese former footballer with 366 club caps
  • André Simões (born 1989) a Portuguese footballer with over 350 club caps
  • Fábio Cecílio (born 1993) a Portuguese futsal player with 100 caps for Portugal

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Áreas das freguesias, concelhos, distritos e país". Archived from the original on 2018-11-05. Retrieved 2018-11-05.
  2. ^ INE, ed. (2021), Censos (in Portuguese), Lisbon, Portugal: Instituto Nacional de Estatística
  3. ^ Nuno Pires Soares (2004), IGP (ed.), Uma População Que Se Urbaniza: Uma avaliação recente – Cidades [Population of urban area] (in Portuguese), Instituto Geográfico Português, archived from the original on 2014-10-06
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Câmara Municipal, ed. (2016), História de Matosinhos (in Portuguese), Matosinhos, Portugal: Câmara Municipal de Matosinhos
  5. ^ a b "Tanques romanos de Angeiras e Villa do Fontão | CM Matosinhos". www.cm-matosinhos.pt. Retrieved 2024-08-06.
  6. ^ "Castro do Monte Castêlo (Castro de Guifões) | CM Matosinhos". www.cm-matosinhos.pt. Retrieved 2024-08-06.
  7. ^ a b c "Igreja do Bom Jesus de Matosinhos | CM Matosinhos". www.cm-matosinhos.pt. Retrieved 2024-08-06.
  8. ^ "Mosteiro de Leça do Balio | CM Matosinhos". www.cm-matosinhos.pt. Retrieved 2024-08-06.
  9. ^ "Obelisco da Praia da Memória | CM Matosinhos". www.cm-matosinhos.pt. Retrieved 2024-08-06.
  10. ^ [1] Sculpture Magazine July–August 2005
  11. ^ She Changes Archived 2009-04-13 at the Wayback Machine Janet Echelman's website
  12. ^ Diário da República. "Law nr. 11-A/2013, pages 552 68-69" (PDF) (in Portuguese). Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  13. ^ a b "Geminações". CM Matosinhos (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-08-06.
  14. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-05-25. Retrieved 2018-04-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Matosinhos.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Matosinhos.
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