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Viseu () is a city and municipality in the Centro Region of Portugal and the capital of the Viseu District, with a population of 100,105 inhabitants in the entire municipality, and center of the Viseu Dão Lafões intermunicipal community, with 267,633 inhabitants.
Settled during the period of the early Iberian Castro culture, the territory of Viseu was occupied by a series of other peoples including the Romans, Suebians, Visigoths and Moors. During the Roman occupation of Iberia, Viriathus, the rebel leader of the Lusitanians, is assumed to have lived for a time in the vicinity. During the Middle Ages, the city often served as a seat for Visigothic nobles (such as King Roderic), and based in the Chronica Gothorum is one of several probable birthplaces for Afonso Henriques, first King of Portugal.
Viseu is a regional economic hub with a strong wine industry and is the seat of the international conglomerate Visabeira. The city is also a cultural center, home to the nationally acclaimed Grão Vasco Museum, the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Viseu, and a center for higher learning institutions, namely the Catholic University of Portugal and the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu.
With its Romanisation the settlement gained importance, being at the intersection of a series of Roman roads linking Mérida, Lisbon, and Galicia.
Viseu is historically associated with Viriathus, the Lusitanians hero believed have been born in this region. After the Roman occupation of the peninsula, under the Suebians and then the Visigoths, the settlement was elevated to the status of city and to the seat of a diocese in the 6th century.
During the Reconquista, the lands of Viseu switched hands several times until the troops of Ferdinand I of León permanently retook the territories and finally expelled the Moors, among much destruction. The Diocese of Viseu had its first bishop as early as 561 and continued intermittently, even during Moorish occupation. For many years it was incorporated into the Bishopric of Coimbra, due to the intervention of the clergy, including St Teotónio. In the 12th century, Viseu began regaining its importance as an urban centre. Peace lasted for the next three centuries after that, allowing the city to prosper. Following the death of King Ferdinand I, the Castilians sought to enforce (by force-of-arms), its rights to the lands/territories of the County of Portugal, bringing unrest once more.
During Countship of Portugal, Viseu had served as the seat of the Court for Henry, Count of Portugal and Countess Teresa, who granted a foral to the city in 1123. Viseu is believed as one of the possible birthplaces of their son Afonso Henriques, the first official Portuguese monarch, in 1109. Following the successful defense of his hereditary rights, and supported by nobles and clergy, Afonso Henriques founded the kingdom of Portugal. Viseu was granted a new charter 1187, that was later reinforced by his grandson, King Afonso II of Portugal, in 1217.
During the 1383–85 Crisis, the city was besieged by the forces of Juan I of Castile, leading to King John I of Portugal starting construction on a series of defensive fortifications which would continue being built until the reign of King Afonso V of Portugal.
The city became part of a fiefdom, when Prince Henry the Navigator, son of King John I of Portugal, was made Duke of Viseu, in 1415.
In 1475, Vasco Fernandes, a famed artist of the Portuguese Renaissance, was born in the city,
In 1513, King Manuel I of Portugal renewed the charter of Viseu and a series of works were taken on throughout the city, with the opening of the first square of the city, the Rossio.
In the 19th century, a new Municipal Palace was built in the Rossio, significantly altering the flow of the city, moving it away from the medieval center to newer parts of the city.
The city of Viseu has an almost central position in relation to the District lying on the so-called Viseu Plateau (in Portuguese Planalto de Viseu). It is surrounded by a mountainous system constituted to the north by the Leonil, Montemuro, and Lapa hills, to the northeast by the Arado hills, to the south and southeast by the Serra da Estrela and the Lousã hills and to the west by the Caramulo hills.
The Municipality is characterized by an irregular surface with altitudes ranging between . With rough terrain, it has numerous water courses. These are found in three basins: the Vouga, the Dão and the Paiva.
Viseu has a Mediterranean climate ( Csb, bordering Csa), with the 1981–2010 averages indicating it just below the isotherm. Its inland position and relative altitude contribute to cooler winters than in coastal areas of the country, with an average of 31 days of frost per year; regular snowfall, as well as a relatively large diurnal temperature variation and lower averages than more low-lying inland cities in the central-north area of the country such as Castelo Branco. In spite of its inland position, the maritime influence is strong enough for there to be a seasonal lag resulting in September averaging similar temperatures as June for the 1981–2010 reference period. This also applies to October and May. However, temperatures drop sharply in November, resulting in a smaller lag for the winter season. July and August are the driest and hottest months, with daytime highs averaging for both months. Winters are much wetter with an average December precipitation of .
Due to migration in the 1960s, Viseu suffered a great decline in its population. After the end of the Portuguese Colonial War (1961–1974), with the return of refugees from the Portugal African colonies that achieved independence, and resulting economic and demographic growth, starting at the end of the 1970s, the municipality increased its population by about 10 percent, giving it an estimated population of 83,261 people. Afterwards, a stagnation set in, confirmed by the 1991 census which showed a population of 83,601.
Viseu is now one of the largest cities in Europe without a railway connection. Once it was connected to Aveiro (via the Vouga line, a narrow gauge railway), and Santa Comba Dão (on the Dão line, another narrow gauge railway), where it had a connection to the Linha da Beira Alta (broad gauge; international). The Dão line closed to passengers in 1988.
The municipality has an airfield – the Viseu Airport (code VSE) also known as Lobato, parish of Lordosa, Viseu – that offers scheduled commercial flights to some domestic destinations with Aero VIP.
There are three secondary education (the Portuguese equivalent of High School) establishments: the Escola Secundária de Viriato, Escola Secundária Alves Martins and Escola Secundária Emídio Navarro.
Geography
Viseu is approximately East of the Atlantic Ocean. Surrounded by a number of mountains – Leomil, Montemuro, Lapa, Arada, Estrela and Caramulo – the tops of which are covered with thick layers of snow in Winter time, the district is crossed by a network of rivers and streamlets.
Climate
Situated in a zone of transition, the concelho (municipality) has several micro-climates. The Serra do Caramulo, located to the west of the city, plays an important role in climatic terms by lessening the influences of the western air masses (although the Mondego River's basin makes the penetration easier). Consequently, Viseu's climate is characterized by the existence of high temperature extremes, with cold and wet winters and hot and dry summers.
Human geography
Administratively, the municipality is divided into 25 civil parishes:
International relations
As of 2023, Viseu is twinned with:
Economy
The city and the region are famous for its wine (Dão Wine) and the Dão Wine Institute, the Solar do Vinho do Dão can be found in the city. There is also an annual fair, the Feira de São Mateus. Furthermore, Viseu is also known for local handicrafts which include black pottery, bobbin lace, embroidery, and copper and wrought iron articles. With the good connections to major industrial centers and to the ports of Aveiro and Leixões, several industries have been installed in Viseu. Visabeira, a Portugal-based international conglomerate with interests in telecommunications, construction, industry, tourism, real estate and diversified services is headquartered in the city. Viseu also hosts a central hospital (Hospital of São Teotónio), two shopping & cinema complexes (the Fórum (2005) and the Palácio do Gelo (2008)), and numerous hostels and hotels in all categories.
Transportation
The city of Viseu has a bus network – MUV – which operates several lines within the entire municipality and a recently installed funicular connecting the lower city with the upper city. The A25 motorway (formerly called IP5) connects Viseu to the seaport of Aveiro and Guarda and then on to Salamanca in Spain. The IP3 and A24, connecting Coimbra with Chaves on the Spanish border, cross Viseu from south to north. Until the nineteen eighties Viseu had railway connections with the coast, but these were closed.
Education
Viseu is the location of the state-run Instituto Politécnico de Viseu which has higher education polytechnic schools of education, technology and management, and agronomy. The city's political and civic groups have been pressuring the national government to upgrade this school into a university, but its desire was never achieved. However, there are 2 private university institutions, the Universidade Católica Portuguesa and the Instituto Piaget. Furthermore, since the Bologna process, the difference between universities and polytechnics is less relevant, with the exception of some degrees like medicine, economics or law, that are only awarded in universities.
Gallery
Notable citizens
Sport
External links
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