VISEU HISTORIC CITY

SOURCE/ TRADUÇÃO DA FONTE : CÂMARA MUNICIPAL VISEU


The origins of Viseu ancient and noble city, lost in the mists of time. Here lived men of remote ages of prehistory, as well the Celts and the Lusitanos: The Romans settled here in centuries of prosperity and peace .Here also passed hordes of invaders, the Suevi, Goths and Muslims ...


At the time of the Swabians in the mid-sixth century, Viseu already had their bishops, suffragan of Braga. Later, however, with the arrival of the Muslims and the collapse of the Visigothic kingdom, the fear of violence from the infidels forced them to take the path of exile and refuge in the remote mountains of Asturias. There followed a long and tragic history, rarely cleared by brief flashes of peace.


Changing hands frequently, sometimes ruled by Christians or by Muslims.


Only in the year 1058 the city of Viseu, thanks to the victorious rush of Ferdinand the Great, King of Leon was able to recover, ultimately, his freedom. But so was dismantled, so deep were the wounds of Leon rude offensive, only in 1147/1148- one hundred years after the reconquest ... - Diocese was able to sustain its own bishop. For so long papal interregnum, was the dioceses governed by bishops of Coimbra, through Priors, and the most famous of them was , for his virtues , S. Teotonio, current patron of the City.


Being away from the danger of raids of muslims , the population could finally settle down smoothly and the City to redo the scars and prosper. It was one of those old urban centers "quickly regained brightness temporarily lost or worsened in business and social differentiation. " There were more than three centuries of peace and fruitful industrious, brutally broken finally, after 1383, when King Ferdinand, King of Castile sought to enforce, by force of arms, their rights to the throne of Portugal. The city of Viseu decided to follow the party of the Master of Avis, and therefore it has become a favorite target , a corridor for Castilian army : more than once looted and burned, the people miraculously escaped the massacre, barricading themselves in the cathedral.


Defenseless city at the mercy of Castile army , Viseu was one of the portuguese lands that have suffered most, for free ... but Portugal continued stubbornly its struggle to survive : how new "phoenix" rising from the ashes, just beginning to dawn on the horizon the harmony between the two Iberian nations. Then, over the centuries their people never ceases to be present in the highest moments of life of the nation, was to Ceuta and Tangier, Brazil and India ... it was the ends of the globe, spreading the missionary work .
Protected by a girdle of walls, served by seven gates, the city developed as ever.The city of Viseu can rightly be proud to own, even today, one of the finest collections in the country, houses, doorways and windows of Gothic and Manueline, a bit scattered to all corners, especially in the typical cozy little streets near to the cathedral.The sun of glory, however, is fast disappearing in the dusk, the sound of the fatal hour Alcazarquivir. The Nation fallen, prostrate, without king, without honor, not a shadow of what it was ... It looked dead, seemed lost ... but behold, rises rapidly, and alive and awake to the clang of the hallelujahs of December 1, 1640. Fight back and win and get up in the adventure, now in the forests, and mountains in the hinterland of the confines of Brazil. There are again loaded the ships, no spices from India, as before, but gold and rare jewels of the lands of Vera Cruz. They come packed with riches for El-King John V. ..


However, a city of more than millennial existence, reflect the age old face as a witness to the passage of successive generations. And they are there, in fact, such testimonies: artistic monuments of all ages, fortunately spared the relentless erosion of centuries and indifference resulting from Men.