Miranda do Douro () or Miranda de l Douro in Mirandese () is a city and a municipality in the

district of Bragança A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

, northeastern

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 ...

. The population in 2011 was 7,482,Instituto Nacional de Estatística
/ref> in an area of 487.18 km². The town proper had a population of 1,960 in 2001. Referred to as the ''"Cidade Museu"'' of the Trás-os-Montes region, it is located 86 kilometres from Bragança, preserving many of its medieval and Renaissance-era traditions and architecture. It has a language of its own, Mirandese, which enjoys official status in Portugal, in addition to cultural and historical discontinuity with the rest of the Portuguese state. The town is located on the border with Spain, with the

Douro River The Douro (, , ; es, Duero ; la, Durius) is the highest-flow river of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province, central Spain, meanders south briefly then flows generally west through the north-west part o ...

separating the two countries. The nearest town in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

is Zamora. The present mayor is Artur Manuel Rodrigues Nunes (

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

). The municipal holiday is on 10 July.

History

The origin of Miranda do Douro as a populated place is still discussed by historians, but archeologist discoveries give evidence that inhabitants had been living there during the

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 prin ...

. Around AD 716, the Moors defeated local

Visigoth 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 kn ...

ic tribes, and occupied some of the lands, calling the area ''Mir-Hândul''. By the late 11th century, León possessed the region as a stepping-stone to Portugal. The settlement of the village of Miranda developed through the initiative of King Denis, in an area that lay between the lateral slopes of the

Douro The Douro (, , ; es, Duero ; la, Durius) is the highest-flow river of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province, central Spain, meanders south briefly then flows generally west through the north-west part o ...

and

Fresno River The Fresno River (Spanish for "ash tree") is a river in Central California and a major tributary of the San Joaquin River. It runs approximately from the Sierra Nevada Range to the San Joaquin River if measured from the source of Rainier Creek, ...

s. It was in Miranda that the Treaty of Alcanices was signed between Denis and

Ferdinand IV of Castile Ferdinand IV of Castile (6 December 1285 – 7 September 1312) called the Summoned (''el Emplazado''), was King of Castile and León from 1295 until his death. His upbringing and the custody of his person were entrusted to his mother, Queen M ...

, setting the border between the King domingo of Portugal and the Crónica of Castile. Miranda was founded on 18 December 1286, and immediately elevated to the status of ''vila'' ( en, town), with one of its prerequisites declaring that the administrative division would be a Crown fief. From that period forward, Miranda became progressively one of the most important towns that skirted the Trás-os-Montes region. The Castilians finally occupied Miranda do Douro during the late 14th century, and would remain there until they were expelled by John I of Portugal. On 10 July 1545, King John III elevated ''Miranda do Douro'' to the status of city, at the same time becoming the first

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associa ...

in Trás-os-Montes (in a papal bull on 22 May 1545 by Pope Paul III, which segmented a major part of the archdiocese of Braga. Miranda, therefore, became the capital of the Trás-os-Montes, seat of the bishopric (that included the residence of the bishop, canons and ecclesiastical authorities), military governorship and civil centre. In 1762, during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (175 ...

, the army of Charles III of Spain invaded the Trás-os-Montes. During the course of his invasion, the gunpowder magazine (with over 500 barrels of powder) was hit by a cannon, destroying the four towers of the castle and many of the barrios in the vicinity. Approximately a third of the city's population (about 400 residents) were killed, resulting in the ruin of the religious, demographic and urbanized portion of Miranda. It was almost two years later (1764) that

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ...

Aleixo Miranda Henriques (then the twenty-third bishop) would abandon Miranda, moving to Bragança, which had become a rival episcopal seat in the northeast part of Portugal. By 1680, it was the only ecclesiastical seat in the region. The area was served by a narrow gauge railway, the

Sabor line The Sabor line ''(Linha do Sabor)'' was a railway in north-east Portugal. It ran for nearly 106 km between Pocinho and Duas Igrejas, near Miranda do Douro. It closed in 1988. History The Sabor line served a very rural part of the country, follo ...

''(Linha do Sabor)'', which ran over 100 km between Duas Igrejas-Miranda and the southern terminus at

Pocinho Pocinho is a village in northern Portugal, located in the Vila Nova de Foz Côa Municipality. The Pocinho Dam and the River Douro are nearby. Pocinho railway station is the eastern terminus of the Douro railway line; the community developed w ...

, where connections could be made to the main line to

Oporto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropo ...

. The Sabor line closed in 1988.

Geography

Physical geography

Miranda do Douro is located in a region that skirts the border between the Portuguese Trás-os-Montes region, and the Spanish autonomous community of Castile and León. The relief in this region is influenced by hard quartzite deposits near the border region, making erosion difficult, resulting in high escarpments and cliffs. The soils are composed of

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes ...

s and

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

bedrocks.

Ecoregions/Protectet areas

The ''Parque Natural do Douro Internacional'' ( en, Douro International Nature Park), which encompasses the municipalities of

Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo () is a municipality in the District of Guarda in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 6,260,Freixo de Espada à Cinta Freixo de Espada à Cinta (), sometimes erroneously called Freixo de Espada Cinta (an archaism), is a municipality in the northeastern region of Portugal, near the border with Spain, along the Douro River Valley. The population in 2011 was 3,780, ...

, Miranda do Douro and

Mogadouro Mogadouro (, ) is a municipality in Portugal. The population in ''2011'' was 9,542, in an area of 760.65 km2. History The history of Mogadouro is evident in the number of castros that dot the landscape of region from the neolithic period. ...

, includes an area of , along the border portion of the Douro River. It was created on 11 May 1998 to encompass the constituent territories that encompass the Rivers Douro and Águeda, along the Spain-Portugal border that include similar geological and climatic conditions, and to help support flora and fauna in the region, while allowing appropriate human activities. The creation of the complementary ''Parque Natural de Arribes'' in Spain, allowed the systematic protection of an area that encompassed the larger ecosystem and biome.

Climate

Miranda do Douro has a Mediterranean climate with continental influences. Due to its location in the ''Nordeste Transmontano'', the area experiences extreme weather fluctuations. It is common for locals to refer to the climate in this region in these terms: ''Em Miranda há nove meses de Inverno e três de Inferno ("In Miranda there are nine months of winter and three months of Hell")''. The summer tends to be dry and warm, while the winters are rigorously cold with frequent snowfalls. Winters in Miranda are cold and have minimum temperatures hovering around in January, frequently falling negative. The summer is completely opposite: hot and dry with maximum temperatures hovering around .

Human geography

Administratively, the municipality is divided into 13 civil parishes ('' freguesias''): *

Constantim e Cicouro Constantim e Cicouro is a civil parish in the municipality of Miranda do Douro Miranda do Douro () or Miranda de l Douro in Mirandese () is a city and a municipality in the district of Bragança, northeastern Portugal. The population in 2011 w ...

* Duas Igrejas ( mwl, Dues Eigreijas) * Genísio ( mwl, Zenízio) * Ifanes e Paradela * Malhadas *

Miranda do Douro Miranda do Douro () or Miranda de l Douro in Mirandese () is a city and a municipality in the district of Bragança, northeastern Portugal. The population in 2011 was 7,482, in an area of 487.18 km². The town proper had a population of 1,9 ...

( mwl, Miranda de l Douro) * Palaçoulo ( mwl, Palaçuolo) * Picote ( mwl, Picuote) * Póvoa ( mwl, Pruoba) * São Martinho de Angueira ( mwl, San Martino) *

Sendim e Atenor Sendim e Atenor is a civil parish in the municipality of Miranda do Douro, Portugal. It was formed in 2013 by the merger of the former parishes Sendim and Atenor. The population in 2011 was 1,487,Silva e Águas Vivas * Vila Chã de Braciosa ( mwl, Bila Chana de Barceosa) Miranda do Douro 10

Twin towns – sister cities

Miranda do Douro is twinned with: *

Aranda de Duero Aranda de Duero is a city and municipality, capital of the Ribera del Duero comarca, in the south of the province of Burgos, in Castile and León, Spain. It has a population of roughly 33,000 people and lies on the River Duero. The closest int ...

, Spain *

Bimenes Bimenes is a municipality of Asturias, Spain. It borders with Siero, Nava, Laviana and San Martín del Rey Aurelio. It is situated in the center zone of Asturias. Its capital is Martimporra. It is 32 km away from Oviedo and its main roa ...

, Spain

Culture

The city has been isolated from the rest of the country for many centuries, so the ancestral way of life is still vivid in the traditions and even in the language (see below). Apart from the distance, the weather conditions are also an adversary, as it is very cold and snowy in winter, and very dry and hot in summer. Gastronomy is one of the local hallmarks, well within the tradition of Trás-os Montes. "Posta à Mirandesa", a heavy, thick steak, is the traditional dish, known and imitated through the rest of the country. The wine from the region has a high alcoholic graduation (17–18°) and matches the regional cuisine well. The city's old quarter, with the cathedral, dates back to the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. Most houses are small and one story high. Inside the old city proper lie the town hall and museum, the "Museu da Terra de Miranda" (museum of the lands of Miranda), which has displays of archaeological findings, farm life, local clothing, and traditional masks. The city has no industries but depends on commercial activity, mainly the sale of house textiles and cutlery from the village of Palaçoulo. Spaniards come in great number on holidays and weekends. There are several hotels, among them the Pousada de Santa Catarina, which overlooks the Douro River.

Mirandese language

The surrounding area is home to the speakers of Mirandese (''Mirandês''), a language of the Astur-Leonese family, related to Asturian and Leonese. Mirandese was recognised in 1999 by the Portuguese state as co-official with

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

for local matters, and an estimate of between 10,000 and 15,000 people speak the language.

Notable citizens

Leonel Vieira Leonel Vieira (born 1969) is a Portuguese film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. ...

(born 1969) film director in late 20th and early 21st century; filmed the video ''Rosa Branca'' for fadist

Mariza Marisa dos Reis Nunes ComIH (born 16 December 1973), known professionally as Mariza (), is a Portuguese fado singer. Mariza was born in Lourenço Marques, Portuguese Mozambique, to a Portuguese father, José Brandão Nunes, and a Mozambican ...

. Leonel Vieira, IMDb Database
retrieved 26 February 2022.

References

External links

*
City government official websitePhotos from Miranda do DouroPauliteiros de Miranda
Mirandese culture (in Portuguese) {{DEFAULTSORT:Miranda Do Douro Municipalities of Bragança District Cities in Portugal Populated places in Bragança District