Sabugal () is a city and a municipality in the District of Guarda,

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 ...

. A border municipality 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 ...

, the population of the municipality in 2011 was 12,544, in an area of 822.70 km². The city proper, located along the

Côa river The Côa River () is a tributary of the Douro River, in central and northeastern Portugal. It is one of the few Portuguese rivers that flows south to north. It flows through the municipalities of Sabugal, Almeida, Portugal, Almeida, Pinhel, Figu ...

, has a population of about 3,000 inhabitants. There is a castle in the city of Sabugal proper as well as other castles outside the urban centre in a number of places around the entire municipality of Sabugal. Those are the castles of Sortelha, Alfaiates, Vilar Maior and Vila do Touro. The municipal holiday is the Monday after

Octave of Easter The Octave of Easter is the eight-day period, or Octave (liturgy), octave, that begins on Easter Sunday and ends with Second Sunday of Easter. It marks the beginning of Eastertide. The first seven of these eight days are also collectively known ...

. It is also place for the Sabugal Dam built in 2000 and the river beach of Devesa, both located in the Côa river. At an elevation of roughly 750 m (2460 ft) above sea level, Sabugal is among the highest cities in Portugal.

History

It is famed for its Gothic

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

with a pentagonal outer wall and an inner wall with five square towers overlooking the

. Besides its ancient castle, Sabugal was the location of the 1811 Battle of Sabugal, a

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...

engagement of British troops under Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington) and French troops under the command of Marshal

André Masséna André Masséna, prince d'Essling, duc de Rivoli (; born Andrea Massena; 6 May 1758 – 4 April 1817), was a French military commander of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was one of the original eighteen Marshal of the ...

, from which the British and their Portuguese allies emerged victorious. Sabugal has a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

heritage since at least the 16th century. In memory of the presence of Jewish communities in Sabugal, there is today an interpretation centre of the Jewish heritage, next to the castle.

Economy

The economy of Sabugal includes

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

;

animal husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, animal fiber, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, management, production, nutrition, selective breeding, and the raising ...

; freshwater

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...

(i.e.

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

fish farming);

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

;

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

;

building materials Building material is material used for construction. Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, rocks, sand, wood, and even twigs and leaves, have been used to construct buildings and other structures, like bridges. Apart from natur ...

industry (including

plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...

industry); and

food industry The food industry is a complex, global network of diverse businesses that supplies most of the food consumed by the world's population. The food industry today has become highly diversified, with manufacturing ranging from small, traditional, ...

(including dairy industry,

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Description ...

processing,

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...

production and bread making). Sabugal has made cheeses for centuries and nowadays it still is a cheese making center with both modern industrial and traditional hand made production of several types of cheeses, from goat milk cheese to cow milk cheese. Lactibar is among the main dairies of Sabugal, its cheese brand ''Queijo Torre'' is among the most sold in several local markets in Portugal.

Tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

is also important in Sabugal. Thanks to the old spas in its vicinities, which date back to the

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman civilisation from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingd ...

although its earliest written reference goes back to the 18th century, Sabugal has become a thermal spa destination displaying in the 21st century a modern spa hotel infrastructure (i.e. Cró Hotel & Thermal Spa).

Education

The city of Sabugal has all types of schools from

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

to the 12th grade

.

Higher education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...

is available in the neighboring city of Guarda, located about 35 km away by road, which is the capital of the

district 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 county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

Sports

Sabugal is home to Sporting Clube do Sabugal, a multisports club founded on March 25, 1939. It has

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

teams as well as a

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

department. The main men's football team plays in the Sabugal Municipality Stadium (''Estádio Municipal do Sabugal'') whose the owner is the Sabugal City Council.

Parishes

Administratively, the municipality (''

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 ...

'') is divided into 30 civil parishes ('' freguesias''): * Águas Belas * Aldeia da Ponte * Aldeia da Ribeira, Vilar Maior e Badamalos * Aldeia do Bispo (Vale dos Caidos) * Aldeia Velha * Alfaiates * Baraçal * Bendada * Bismula * Casteleiro * Cerdeira * Fóios * Lageosa da Raia * Forcalhos * Malcata * Nave * Pousafoles do Bispo, Pena Lobo e Lomba * Quadrazais * Quintas de São Bartolomeu * Rapoula do Côa * Rebolosa * Rendo * Ruvina, Ruivós e Vale das Éguas * Sabugal e Aldeia de Santo António (city) * Santo Estêvão e Moita * Seixo do Côa e Vale Longo * Sortelha * Souto (town) * Vale de Espinho * Vila Boa * Vila do Touro

Notable people

* Manuel António Pina (1943–2012) a Portuguese journalist and writer * Kim Prisu (born 1962 in Aldeia da Dona) a Portuguese painter. * Joaquim Sapinho (born 1965) a Portuguese film director.

References

External links

Municipality official website

Photos from Sabugal
{{Authority control Cities in Portugal Municipalities of Guarda District