Mortágua

Municipality in Centro, Portugal

Flag

Coat of arms

Coordinates: 40°26′N 8°14′W / 40.433°N 8.233°W / 40.433; -8.233Country

PortugalRegionCentroIntermunic. comm.Região de CoimbraDistrictViseuParishes7Government

• PresidentRicardo Pardal ([[Socialist Party (Portugal)])Area

• Total251.18 km² (96.98 sq mi)Population

(2011)

• Total9,607 • Density38/km² (99/sq mi)Time zoneUTC±00:00 (WET) • Summer (DST)UTC+01:00 (WEST)Local holidayHoly ThursdayWebsitehttp://www.cm-mortagua.pt/

Mortágua (Portuguese pronunciation: [muɾˈtaɣwɐ] or [mɔɾˈtaɣwɐ] ^ⓘ) is a municipality in the district of Viseu, Portugal. The population in 2011 was 9,607,^[1] in an area of 251.18 km².^[2]

The present mayor is Ricardo Sérgio Pardal, elected in 2021 by the Socialist Party.

History

Legend suggests that that village was formed on a lake; settlers recalled that Água Morta (dead water) existed here, but no physiological evidence remains of the body of water.^[3] Over time, the name stayed and evolved, becoming the variant today of the local municipality.

About 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) from the main village is a hill, covered in vegetation, but whose lateral flank was occupied by a Moorish settlement known as Crasto.^[3] Over a cliff archeologists discovered several homes including a building that was defined as a kitchen, on its edge.^[3]

By 1895, several chapels were situated on this hilltop, which had become known as Cabeça da Senhora do Mundo (owing to the existence of an image to that invocation).^[3]

Geography

Administratively, the municipality is divided into 7 civil parishes (freguesias):^[4]

Cercosa
Espinho
Marmeleira
Mortágua, Vale de Remígio, Cortegaça e Almaça
Pala
Sobral
Trezói

Notable people

Vasco Martins de Sousa (1320s-1387) Lord of Mortágua
Fernanda de Paiva Tomás (1928–1984) a member of the Portuguese Communist Party, a political prisoner from 1961 to 1970, under the authoritarian Estado Novo regime.

Sport

Francisco Neto (born 1981) a football manager, currently the head coach of the Portugal women's national football team
Filipe Sarmento (born 1985 in Mortágua) a Portuguese footballer with over 220 club caps

References

Notes

^ Instituto Nacional de Estatística
^ "Áreas das freguesias, concelhos, distritos e país". Archived from the original on 2018-11-05. Retrieved 2018-11-05.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d J.L. de V. (1895), p.10
^ Diário da República. "Law nr. 11-A/2013, page 552 78" (pdf) (in Portuguese). Retrieved 28 July 2014.