Miranda do Douro (), officially the City of Miranda do Douro (; , ), is a city and a municipality in the district of Bragança, northeastern

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 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. Nicknamed ''Cidade Museu'' ("Museum City") 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 Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, with the

Douro River The Douro (, , , ; ; ) is the largest river of the Iberian Peninsula by discharge. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in the Spanish province of Soria, meanders briefly south, then flows generally west through the northern part of the Meseta ...

separating the two countries. The nearest town in Spain is Zamora. The present mayor is Artur Manuel Rodrigues Nunes (

Socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

). 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 () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

. Around AD 716, the Moors defeated local

Visigoth The Visigoths (; ) were a Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied barbarian military group united under the comman ...

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

. 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 (, , , ; ; ) is the largest river of the Iberian Peninsula by discharge. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in the Spanish Soria Province, province of Soria, meanders briefly south, then flows generally west through the northern par ...

and

Fresno River The Fresno River (Spanish language, 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 (U.S.), Sierra Nevada Range to the San Joaquin River if me ...

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 King of León, León from 1295 until his death. Ferdinand's upbringing and personal custody was entered to his mother ...

, setting the border between the

Kingdom of Portugal The Kingdom of Portugal was a Portuguese monarchy, monarchy in the western Iberian Peninsula and the predecessor of the modern Portuguese Republic. Existing to various extents between 1139 and 1910, it was also known as the Kingdom of Portugal a ...

and the

Crown of Castile The Crown of Castile was a medieval polity in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and, some decades later, the parliaments of the kingdoms of Kingdom of Castile, Castile and Kingd ...

. Miranda was founded on 18 December 1286, and immediately elevated to the status of ''vila'' (), 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 occupied Miranda do Douro during the late 14th century, and would remain there until they were expelled by

John I of Portugal John I ( WP:IPA for Portuguese, �uˈɐ̃w̃ 11 April 1357 – 14 August 1433), also called John of Aviz, was King of Portugal from 1385 until his death in 1433. He is recognized chiefly for his role in Portugal's victory in 1383–85 crisi ...

. 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 Ecclesiastical polity, 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 Roman province, prov ...

in Trás-os-Montes (in a

papal bull A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it. History Papal ...

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 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

, the army of

Charles III of Spain Charles III (; 20 January 1716 – 14 December 1788) was King of Spain in the years 1759 to 1788. He was also Duke of Parma and Piacenza, as Charles I (1731–1735); King of Naples, as Charles VII; and King of Sicily, as Charles III (or V) (1735� ...

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 in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...

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 ''(Linha do Sabor)'', which ran over 100 km between Duas Igrejas-Miranda and the southern terminus at Pocinho, where connections could be made to the main line to

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

. 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 Castile and León is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwestern Spain. Castile and León is the largest autonomous community in Spain by area, covering 94,222 km2. It is, however, sparsely populated, with a pop ...

. 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 generally derived from fine-grained sedimentary rock, like shale. It shows pronounced ''schistosity'' (named for the rock). This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a l ...

s and

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, 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 coo ...

bedrocks.

Ecoregions/Protected areas

The ''Parque Natural do Douro Internacional'' (), which encompasses the municipalities of Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo,

Freixo de Espada à Cinta Freixo de Espada à Cinta (), sometimes erroneously called Freixo de Espada Cinta (an archaism), and officially Town of Freixo de Espada à Cinta (), is a List of municipalities of Portugal, municipality in the northeastern region of Portugal, nea ...

, Miranda do Douro and

Mogadouro Mogadouro (, ), officially the Town of Mogadouro (; ), is a List of municipalities of Portugal, 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 nu ...

, 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 warm-summer

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

(''Csb''). Due to its inland location in the ''Nordeste Transmontano'', the area experiences extreme weather fluctuations. A common saying of the region goes: ''Em Miranda há nove meses de Inverno e três de Inferno ("In Miranda there are nine months of winter and three months of Hell")''. Summers tend to be dry and warm; while winters are rigorously cold with some snowfall, having average minimum temperatures hovering around in January, and frequently falling negative, with 70 days of frost per year on average. 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 () * Duas Igrejas () * Genísio () * Ifanes e Paradela () * Malhadas *

Miranda do Douro Miranda do Douro (), officially the City of Miranda do Douro (; , ), 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 populati ...

() * Palaçoulo () * Picote () * Póvoa () * São Martinho de Angueira () * Sendim e Atenor () * Silva e Águas Vivas () * Vila Chã de Braciosa () Miranda do Douro 10

Twin towns – sister cities

Miranda do Douro is twinned with: * Aranda de Duero, Spain * Bimenes, Spain Museu terra miranda

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 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

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

Tourism

Miranda do Douro is in the middle of Douro International Natural Park, also known as Parque Natural do Douro Internacional in Portuguese, which is a protected natural area located in northeastern

and northwestern

. The natural park promotes the unique ecological and cultural heritage of the region. The park is situated along the

, which forms the border between Portugal and Spain for a significant portion of its course. It covers an area of approximately 85,000 hectares (210,000 acres), with about two-thirds of the park located in

and the remaining third in

. The walking trail from Miranda do Douro to São João das Arribas is a beautiful route in Portugal that offers stunning views of the Douro River and the surrounding landscapes. The trail starts in Miranda do Douro and leads to São João das Arribas, which is known for its impressive cliffs overlooking the

Notable citizens

Leonel Vieira Leonel Vieira (born 1969) is a Portuguese film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the f ...

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

Mariza Marisa dos Reis Nunes (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 mothe ...

. 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 Miranda do Douro Municipalities of Bragança District Cities in Portugal Populated places in Bragança District