Alter do Chão
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Template: Infobox city in Portugal / Maintenance / Web page is blank Alter do Chão is a small town ( Vila ) and a circle ( concelho ) in Portugal with 2413 inhabitants (as at 30 June 2011).
History
Numerous Antas and other finds indicate a prehistoric settlement of the area. The origins of the present-day village lying in a Roman town, which developed here from an Iron Age settlement and Alber Terium said. After invasion of the Moors in the Iberian Peninsula from 711 Abd ar -Rahman III ordered. here 912 built a castle, which is known as Castelo da Alter do Chão today.
During the Reconquista, the area was retaken by the Arabs and in 1211 handed over by the Portuguese crown the Knight Order of Avis. This made the place in 1232 to the seat of an independent circuit. King D.Dinis gave him 1293 for the first time full city rights by various less comprehensive documents before.
King D.João I gave the place to the now sainted knight Nuno Álvares Pereira. King Manuel I renewed the city rights in 1512 as part of its administrative reforms.
During the Restoration War, the local castle Alter Pedroso in 1662 was largely destroyed.
In the 18th century the county experienced some progress. So the city council put on ( Câmara Municipal) public wells to improve water supply, and 1747 here was the Coudelaria de age a royal stud farm was founded. The sculptor Machado de Castro about the stallion Gentil took from there in 1775 as a model for his famous equestrian statue on the central Praça do Comercio Square in Lisbon.
As a result of administrative reforms after the Liberal Revolution of 1822 the circle of Alter do Chão in 1836 significantly expanded after adjoining districts were dissolved and annexed it. 1976, the district was last extended by incorporation of the municipality Cunheira.
Culture and sights
Among the monuments of the village are a number of historic houses (casas ) and mansions, stone fountains, various historic public buildings like the post office, the bullring, the market house, among other things, founded in 1748 stud Coudelaria de age or Coudelaria Nacional, a Roman archaeological site among other things, with a villa rustica, and a number of churches and other religious buildings, including the present Pousada Convento de Altar, the former Baroque monastery Convento de Santo António in the 17th century .. The historical town center as a whole is a listed building.
Among the museums to be mentioned with its three different subdivisions adjacent to the City Archives Arquivo Histórico Municipal especially the City Museum Museu Municipal de Alter do Chão. To show in the listed Casa e Quinta do Álamo - Núcleo Museológico the upper floors permanent exhibitions on the history of the circle, while the ground floor offers changing exhibitions. The other two Museuumseinrichtungen are the Castelo de age, and the excavation site Ruínas Romana e Centro interpretativo - Ferragial d' El Rei, which includes archeological excavations and a visitor center.
Hiking and equestrian tourism is offered in the district, and also bird watching is operated.
Management
Circle
Alter do Chão is the administrative seat of the homonymous district. The neighboring districts are (clockwise starting from the north ): Portalegre, Monforte, fronteira, Avis and Ponte de Sôr.
The following parishes ( freguesias ) lying in circle Alter do Chao:
- Alter do Chão
- Chancelaria
- Cunheira
- Seda