Monsanto (Idanha-a-Nova)
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Monsanto is a village in the
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 can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
of
Monsanto e Idanha-a-Velha Monsanto e Idanha-a-Velha is a civil parish in the municipality of Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal. It was formed in 2013 by the merger of the former parishes Monsanto and Idanha-a-Velha. The population in 2011 was 892,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' ...
of
Idanha-a-Nova Idanha-a-Nova ( ), officially the Town of Idanha-a-Nova (), is a town and municipality in the district of Castelo Branco, in east-central Portugal. A border municipality with Spain, the population of the municipality in 2011 was 9,716, in an area ...
,
District of Castelo Branco Castelo Branco District ( ) is located in Central Portugal. Its capital is Castelo Branco, which is now also its most populous city, overtaking Covilhã, which was once the largest city, in the late 2010s. It has an area of (4th largest in Por ...
,
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 ...
. In 2011, it covered an area of 131.76 km2 and had 828 inhabitants (June 30, 2011). Monsanto would become popularly known as "the most Portuguese village of Portugal" due to a government-sponsored competition that awarded twelve historic villages the distinction of Most Portuguese Village of their own province in 1938.


History

It was the main town of the ''
concelho Concelho () is the Portuguese-language term for municipality, referring to the territorial subdivision in local government. In comparison, the word ''município'' () refers to the organs of State. This differentiation is still in use in Portugal ...
'' between 1174 and the beginning of the 19th century, and the county seat in the period of 1758-1853. The mountain Monsanto () rises abruptly to the East of the Idanha-a-Nova up to 758 meters above sea level. The earliest traces of man is from the
Early Stone Age The Lower Paleolithic (or Lower Palaeolithic) is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. It spans the time from around 3.3 million years ago when the first evidence for stone tool production and use by hominins appears ...
, dating back to the ice ages. Later,
Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
settled at the base of the mountain. Traces from
Visigothic 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 ...
in the early Middle Ages and even earlier
Arab Arabs (,  , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...
presence have been found in the area. In the 12th century, King
Afonso I of Portugal Dom Afonso IOr also ''Affonso'' (Archaic Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonso'' (Portuguese-Galician languages, Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonsus'' (Latin version), sometimes rendered in English as ''Alphonzo'' or ''Alphonse'', depending on th ...
conquered Monsanto from the
Moors The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a s ...
as part of the Christian
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 ...
. In 1165, he granted the custody of the city to a knights' order of the church, first to the Order of the
Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...
, and later to the
Order of Santiago The Order of Santiago (; ) is a religious and military order founded in the 12th century. It owes its name to the patron saint of Spain, ''Santiago'' ( St. James the Greater). Its initial objective was to protect the pilgrims on the Way of S ...
. The city was given to the military orders to maintain the reconquered city within Christian hands. The Grand Master of the Order of the
Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...
,
Gualdim Pais Dom Gualdim Pais (4 March 1118 – 13 October 1195) was a Portuguese crusader, Knight Templar in the service of Afonso Henriques of Portugal. He was the founder of the city of Tomar. Biography Gualdim Pais was the son of Paio Ramires and Guntro ...
, was manager of the building of the fortress. Later, King
Sancho I of Portugal Sancho I (born ; Coimbra, 11 November 115426 March 1211) also referred to as Sancho the Populator (), was King of Portugal from 1185 until his death in 1211. He was the second king of Portugal. Sancho was the second but only surviving legitimat ...
reconstructed and repopulated it after the wars with the Leonese. Unfortunately, the medieval castle was destroyed in the nineteenth century because of an explosion in the ammunition depot of the castle. Monsanto would become popularly known as "the most Portuguese village of Portugal" due to a government-sponsored competition that awarded Monsanto this distinction in 1938. The title was awarded by the Portuguese Secretariat for Propaganda under the Estado Novo regime. A symbol of Portugal, the Silver Rooster (Galo de Prata), designed by Abel Pereira da Silva, was the coveted trophy in this competition and can be seen atop the Clock Tower or Lucano Tower of Monsanto. In 2013, the parish evolved into the new parish
Monsanto e Idanha-a-Velha Monsanto e Idanha-a-Velha is a civil parish in the municipality of Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal. It was formed in 2013 by the merger of the former parishes Monsanto and Idanha-a-Velha. The population in 2011 was 892,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 ...
upon which the historic and present villages are built in a fusion of nature and its landforms. This fusion can be seen in the uses of caves and rocks being converted into construction parts.


Places

*
Castle of Monsanto The Castle of Monsanto () is a Middle Ages, medieval castle located in the Freguesia (Portugal), civil parish of Monsanto e Idanha-a-Velha, in the Concelho, municipality of Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal, Portuguese Castelo Branco (district), district o ...
* Chapel of Saint Peter de Vir à Corça o Chapel of Saint Peter de Vira-Corça * Roman archaeological site of Saint Lawrence * Old village of Monsanto * Pillory of Monsanto * Tower of Lucano * Chapel of Our Lady of Azenha * Chapel of Our Lady of the Foot of the Cross * Chapel of Saint Mary of the Castle * Chapel of Saint Anthony * Chapel of Saint Joseph * Chapel of Saint Michael of the Castle *
Chapel of Saint Sebastian The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican (), or simply St. Peter's Basilica (; ), is a church of the Italian Renaissance architecture, Italian High Renaissance located in Vatican City, an independent microstate enclaved within the cit ...
* Chapel of the Holy Spirit * Ferreiro Fountain * Church of Mercy of Monsanto * Parish Church of Monsanto or Church of the Saint Savior * Solar of the Marquis of Graciosa Family (Posto de Turismo do Monsanto) * Solar of Melo Family or Solar of the Counts of Monsanto * Solar of Pinheiro Family or Solar of the Mono Fountain * Solar of the Priors of Monsanto


References


External links


Village of Monsanto, Idanha-a-Nova
undated article at
Atlas Obscura ''Atlas Obscura'' is an United States, American-based travel and exploration company. It was founded in 2009 by author Joshua Foer and documentary filmmaker/author Dylan Thuras. It catalogs unusual and obscure travel destinations via professiona ...
, many photos
The Monsanto's freguesiaRadio Clube of Monsanto
{{Authority control Idanha-a-Nova