Golegã
Encyclopedia
Golegã is a small municipality in Portugal
with a total area of 76.6 km² and a total population of 5,629 inhabitants.
The municipality is composed of 2 parishes, and is located in Santarém District.
The present Mayor is José Tavares Veiga da Silva Maltez, elected by the Socialist Party
.
The municipal holiday is Ascension Day.
(Portuguese late Gothic
) style. The remarkable main portal and the ribbed vaulting inside the main chapel are its most important artistic features.
Near Golegã village is located the Quinta da Cardiga, a manor house
with its origin in a 12th century donation to the Knights Templar
. Originally the site of a castle, the property was remodelled in the 16th century into a Renaissance
rural palace.
, was born in the parish of Azinhaga in 1922.
.
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
with a total area of 76.6 km² and a total population of 5,629 inhabitants.
The municipality is composed of 2 parishes, and is located in Santarém District.
The present Mayor is José Tavares Veiga da Silva Maltez, elected by the Socialist Party
Portuguese Socialist Party
The Portuguese Socialist Party was a political party in Portugal.The party was founded in 1875. During its initial phase the party was heavily influenced by Proudhonism, and rejected revolutionary Marxism. The party suffered constant factional struggles...
.
The municipal holiday is Ascension Day.
Population
| Population of Golegã municipality | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1801 | 1849 | 1900 | 1930 | 1960 | 1981 | 1991 | 2001 | 2004 |
| 2452 | 2866 | 5694 | 6325 | 6150 | 5963 | 6072 | 5710 | 5629 |
Historical sights
The main historical sight of Golegã is its main church (matriz), built in the early 16th century in ManuelineManueline
The Manueline, or Portuguese late Gothic, is the sumptuous, composite Portuguese style of architectural ornamentation of the first decades of the 16th century, incorporating maritime elements and representations of the discoveries brought from the voyages of Vasco da Gama and Pedro Álvares Cabral...
(Portuguese late Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
) style. The remarkable main portal and the ribbed vaulting inside the main chapel are its most important artistic features.
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
with its origin in a 12th century donation to the Knights Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
. Originally the site of a castle, the property was remodelled in the 16th century into a Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
rural palace.
Personalities
The winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature, José SaramagoJosé Saramago
José de Sousa Saramago, GColSE was a Nobel-laureate Portuguese novelist, poet, playwright and journalist. His works, some of which can be seen as allegories, commonly present subversive perspectives on historic events, emphasizing the human factor. Harold Bloom has described Saramago as "a...
, was born in the parish of Azinhaga in 1922.
Horse capital
Golegã is considered the capital of the horse (Capital do Cavalo), and it has been the site for the gathering of breeders since at least the 18th century. Two fairs take place every November in Golegã: The Feira Nacional do Cavalo (National Horse Fair) and the Feira Internacional do Cavalo Lusitano, dedicated to the Lusitano horseLusitano
The Lusitano is a Portuguese horse breed, closely related to the Spanish Andalusian horse. Both are sometimes called Iberian horses, as the breeds both developed on the Iberian peninsula, and until the 1960s they were considered one breed, under the Andalusian name...
.