Gouveia

For other places with the same name, see Gouveia (disambiguation).

Gouveia is a small city in Serra da Estrela in Portugal. Gouveia's location offers views over the Mondego valleys with the horizon dominated by the mountains and highlands of Beira Alta region. With wide horizons that allow people to have one of the widest views in Portugal over almost the entire Beira Alta region, Gouveia features a path to the highest geographic point of continental Portugal, with astonishing views over the valley.

Understand

In 2011, Gouveia (goh-VAY-uh, /go.ˈvɐj.ɐ/) municipality was home to 14,046 people (2011), of whom 3,500 lived in the town.

History

Igreja de São Pedro with the façade covered with tiles (azulejos)

The establishment of Gouveia is often attributed to the year 580 BC, but the oldest material proof of human occupation is funerary pottery dating to the Bronze Age. In the parish of Rio Torto, the oldest evidence of human occupation is a dolmen (a stone funerary structure) dating back to the fourth millennium BC.

The Roman occupation was also a part of the city's history. A consecration inscription to the Lusitanian god Salqiu was found in a chapel on the city centre, as was the grave of a Roman warrior with iron artefacts related to war (axe, knife, and an arrow head). In the Folgosinho, Nespereira, and V.N. Tazem parishes, there are Roman roads that can still be walked.

During the Medieval period, the city developed, with shepherding, agriculture, and wool production as the biggest areas of economic development. The Jewish community played an important role in this development, especially in the handcrafts using wool, but also with trade. A Hebrew inscription was found in the late 1960s in one of the old Jewish quarters that certifies the last synagogue to be built in Portugal before the mandatory conversion and expulsion of the Jewish community of Portugal in the year of 1496, which is also the year recorded in the inscription. The inscription can be seen in the museum Espaço Arte e Memória.

During the modern period, the wool industry grew until the 20th century, since which time it has diminished.

The main architectural structures are in the city centre, and they go back to the 18th century, especially the St. Peter's church, a small cathedral, the library and the museum building, the city hall, an 18th-century Jesuit college, and several churches and chapels. The biggest icon is a 16th-century building called casa da torre, which has a "pelourinho" in front from the same period as the building to commemorate the autonomy attained by Gouveia from King Manuel I.

Visitor information

• 1 Turismo de Gouveia, Jardim da Ribeira, ☏ +351 238 083 930, turismo@cm-gouveia.pt. (updated Jun 2021)

Get in

The main road through Gouveia is the EN17, which can be reached from the A25 motorway (Autoestrada das Beiras Litoral e Alta).

See

• 1 Museu Municipal de Arte Moderna Abel Manta (Municipal Museum of Modern Art), Rua Direita 45 (Solar dos Condes de Vinhó and Almedina), ☏ +351 238 493 648, museu@cm-gouveia.pt. Daily 09:30–12:30 & 14:00–18:00, closed 1 Jan, Easter, 1 May, 25 Dec. The largest collection of modern art in the region, with seven permanent exhibition rooms and one for temporary exhibitions, an art library, educational services, a reception and a museum shop. This space houses the core of Abel Manta's work, and masters such as Vieira da Silva, Joaquim Rodrigo, Júlio Resende, Júlio Pomar, Menez, Paula Rego. Free. (updated Mar 2021)
• 2 Folgosinho Castle. Built in a dominant position at a height of 933 m above sea ​​level, the castle was built with pink-white quartz stone, which gives it a unique beauty. (updated Jan 2021)

Do

Parks

• Serra da Estrela Natural Park. The uniqueness of the Serra da Estrela Higher Plateau and its geographical isolation gave rise to a diversity of flora and fauna species, whose value was acknowledged when the Council of Europe assigned it the title of Biogenetic Reservation. 
• The Ecological Park of Gouveia is in a rural area just outside the city limits in Quinta da Borrachota. With an area of 6 hectares, the park has flora and fauna distributed along its paths as well as support infrastructures and information for visitors about the environmental region that surrounds the city.
• CERVAS—Centro de Ecologia, Recuperação e Vigilância de Animais Selvagens (centre for ecology, recovery, and monitoring of wildlife centre)—is a national park of Serra da Estrela, managed by ALDEIA Association. Its goals are to identify and solve problems relating to the conservation and management of the wildlife and its habitats. The main focus of this work is related to the recovery and treatment of the wildlife and the release of individuals into the wild.

Events

• The annual literary and painting award, the Vergílio Ferreira National Literature Prize, is named after two of the greatest 20th-century Portuguese authors and artists as an homage to their home town: writer, philosopher, and teacher Vergílio Ferreira (born in Melo, Gouveia) and painter Abel Manta (also born in Gouveia).
• The city also has a theatre with regular film showings and theatre and music festivals, such as Gouveia Art'Rock, a progressive rock festival going back more than a decade, and a reference in the world within the genre.

Eat

• 1 Ponte Dos Cavaleiros, Rua Dr. Sílvio Gomes Henriques 1, Arcozelo da Serra, ☏ +351 238 771 010, pontedoscavaleiros@hotmail.com. Daily 10:00–23:00. Portuguese cuisine hidden away on a backroad. Mid-range. (updated Jun 2021)

Sleep

• 1 Hotel Madre de Água, Quinta Madre de Água, Vinhó, ☏ +351 238 490 500, hotel@quintamadredeagua.pt. Check-in: 16:00, check-out: 12:00. Four-star, 10-room rural hotel built among vineyards. It has as a swimming pool, an on-site restaurant, a bar, and free parking. €92-127. (updated Jun 2021)