Key Benefits:
DRAFT LAW NO. 696 /X/4.
ELEVATION OF THE VILLAGE OF S. PEDRO DO SUL À
CATEGORY OF CITY
1. GEOGRAPHICAL SITUATION AND GENERAL CHARACTERIZATION
The Concelho of S. Pedro do Sul lies at the Northern limit of the Centre Region, in the Region of
Beira Alta and in the Viseu district, clashing with the concelhos of Arouca, Castro
Daire, Vouzela, Oliveira de Frades, Viseu and Vale of Cambra.
Integrates in conjunction with the concelhos de Oliveira de Frades and Vouzela, the former Region
of Lafões, natural territory of great beauty in the middle trolleth of the Vouga valley,
delimited to the north by the massive of the Gralheira and to the south by the Serra do Caramulo.
The seat of the concelho of S. Pedro do Sul is crossed by the Vouga and South rivers, as well as
by national roads n. ºs 16 and 227 and by Regional Road No. 228, which despite the
proximity of the motorways A25 and A24, continue to constitute important routes of
transit, just as it happened a few centuries ago.
It is a Concelho with the area of 348 Km2 and consists of 19 freguesias and a
population of more than 19 thousand inhabitants.
From among all these freguesies stand out two, S. Pedro do Sul and Várzea, who
concentrate more than eight thousand inhabitants on the effect of their centrality and the strong
urban and demographic expansion of the Terms of S. Pedro do Sul.
2. HISTORY
The vetusta "village" of "Sancti Petri of the Sur" already appears in documents from the séc XI.
A document from 1030, already mentions aexistence in the current variate concelho
agriculture, including "orchards, figs, castanhais, nogals", etc., more properly
near the present village.
According to the Great Portuguese Encyclopedia and Brasileira, " the story of this
concelho offers, from par with very curious facts, some of the most important
subsidies for the study of our medieval society-considered all classes
of the population, but very especially the people and the nobility ". " In the touching on this one, enough
that were from here originating the strains (and current nicknames) "of Pinho", "de Amaral",
"from Vaions or Baions" "from Sobral" and, well probably the "of Figueiredo". On the high and
vast serrania that occupies the entire northern part of the present concelho, villainous people
came to reach culmination of opulence that ran parlours with those of the
nobility ".
In 1085, a presbyter Trutesindo donates to the Sé de Coimbra to his church (surely
monastic) "that vocatur Sancti Petri in land Alahuni" (Lafões). (Highlight that the
word "sur" was of Arab origin, giving "south" in Portuguese. In castelhano
(Spanish), the Arabic vocacula stayed forever.)
In another donation to the same Sé, it is said of the monastery of S. Pedro do Sul , " which est
A secus of courses rivulos Sur and Vauga " , precisely the position of the current
village, kissed at its feet by the two rivers (Vouga and South). The existence of this monastery was
ephemeral, for the Inquiries of 1258 in it no longer spoke.
2.1. From the Councelho of Lafões to the Concelho of S. Pedro doSul
In 1436, D. Duarte institutes the concelain of Lafões, one of the largest in the Country,
comprised of 44 freguesies and 13 couts. In the middle of that immense territory was
jammed the concelain of the Banho (Terms of S. Pedro do Sul), whose foral had been
granted by D. Afonso Henriques in 1152, nearly three centuries earlier.
Please note that the region (Alahuin, from Arabic) already long before the foundation of the
nationality, constituted a territorial circumscription, then called "land".
With the great review and administrative reorganization of the Country, taken to effect by
Mouzinho da Silveira from 1832, the huge Lafões ' concelain is divided into three
concelhos --. S. Pedro do Sul, Vouzela and Oliveira de Frades-being the minuscule and
old fashioned Banho concelain integrated in S. Pedro do Sul. And, thus, in 1836,
these new concelhos were beginning to run their destinations.
2.2. From ancient times to modernity
Almost two centuries past about its foundation as a county, S. Pedro do Sul is,
today one of the most village in the Viseu district. For its stunning beauty and for the
quality of its thermal waters, attracts itself, annually, the largest number of aquicians of
all the Country and very many domestic and foreign tourists.
" What a refrigerio! ... What a great amenity! ... What a branding! ... ", wrote
Ramalho Ortigão, dazzled with the landscape of the Villa and the Terms. " Sintra of the
Verge " has called him someone (it is said that Camilo White Castle that by way passed, from
visit to the White Castle, your family members of Viseu).
The urban fabric of the seat of the county, for years it will expand into the inside
of the limits of the four freighters boreal of the Village: Várzea, Baiões, Bordonhos and S.
Felix.
In what concerne to the axis S. Pedro do Sul-Várzea, the respective spots
urban already intersect long ago, continuing to develop at a remarkable pace.
With this considerable and visible expansion, it can assert itself, without any
doubt, that within not too long, S. Pedro do Sul will have an urban stain of
area superior to some major cities.
2.3. Termas of S. Peter of the South
The present Terms of S. Pedro do Sul were called by the Romans
"Balneum", here building, there are more than two thousand years, a thermal seaside resort, whose
ruins there are currently remaining.
In these two millennia, it was successively altering the denomination. First
went from "Balneum" to Banho, then to Caldas de Lafões, subsequently, in
1895, for Terms of Queen D. Amélia and, finally, for Terms of S. Pedro do Sul,
already with the advent of the Republic.
As ago it was referred to, in 1152, D. Afonso Henriques grants to the foral site
realengo, instituting the county of the Banho, elevating it later, the " Couto do
Kingdom "and the Couto of Honour". There was this small, old-fashioned concelain from subsist
until the dismantling of the extensive Lafões concelho in 1834, date from which
became integrated in the concelain of S. Pedro do Sul.
In 1169, here shifted the Founding King to treat himself to a leg
fracturate of the Battle of Badajós, accompanied by his son Sancho and his two daughters.
D. Manuel I ali came also in search of lenitivo for his padections
herptics, having granted him new and more important foral in 1515.
At the time, already the thermal site had the name of Caldas de Lafões, seat of the small
concelain of the Banho.
Finally, the last queen of Portugal, D. Amélia of Orleans and Braganza, here came
also treated for problems of the throat, in 1894. And so well it felt that it came back
in 1895, 1896 and 1898, In the second year of its coming, the Chamber of then gave the name to the
site of Terms of Queen D. Amélia, also attributing its name to the Balneary that
still today stands.
In 1987, a second Balneary was inaugurated, the largest on the Peninsula,
recently remodeled and enlarged, to which it was assigned the name of " Balneário D.
Afonso Henriques ", fair tribute to the monarch who, in the alvor of nationality,
granted such great honor to the place and to the "miraculous waters" that in it sprout.
This thermal office, running all year round, is wanted for about a third
of the national aquistas. Also many tourists demand this rincon in search of
rest for the body and for the spirit.
The number of aquicians who throughout the year attend the Terms of S. Pedro do
South and there remain for periods longer than 15 days, it rises to about 25,000,
occurring that in the summer months will be more than 45,000 people who by there go through and the
its majority there remain.
The environmental qualification and the quality of the treatments provided by the
thermal water from the Terms of S. Pedro do Sul, have been projecting these therms for a
unequivocal leadership of the Iberian Peninsula Termalism since the 80.
This reality has been accompanied by strong urban sprawi and
installation of different equipment capable of responding to the strong demand of this
thermal resort, constituting even new abode for many of the frequenters
of these Terms.
Of emphasising that the growth and affirmation of the Terms of S. Pedro do Sul to the
long centuries, it has constituted one of the main drivers of demand growth
touristy in the region.
3. CULTURAL LIFE
In the village of S. Pedro do Sul, was born the Poet António Corrêa de Oliveira , in
1879.
Your poems " passed down from such softness and lirism, they may only have been
written by an unusual chronicle poet and, at the same time approachable, coming from the people,
molded in the feel of the people " such as the characterizing Teixeira de Pascoais.
In 1908, he was elected a partner of the Academy of Sciences, from whose praise he took charge
Henrique Lopes de Mendonça, another great poet, author of the lyrics of "The Portuguese" that
would come to be our National Hino, after the deployment of the Republic. The following year,
identical honor had from the Brasileira de Letras Academy, going to occupy the vacant chair that
out of Emílio Zola.
This Poet has in this his land, since 1955, an expressive bustle, erected by
public underwriting of its countrymen.
Other cultural manifestations have proliferated in this concelho, as is
of the plays promoted by the People's Theatre Group "The Cénico", which has
achieved significant successes, as well as from the Manhouce Group of Cantars and its
soloist Isabel Silvestre, who has taken to the seven corners of the world the beauty of the musica
Traditional Portuguese, namely the coming from S. Pedro do Sul.
3.1. Cine Theatre
On the principle of the second decade of the séc. XX, is built on the river Vouga, together
Village, a hydroelectric plant .
In the wake of this important improvement for the season three entrepreneurs
locals take the initiative to build a hall of spectacles. Thus, in 1926, it is
inaugurated a house of classical style spectacles, named after Cine-Theater S.
Pedro.
Acquired by the Edility in the 90, it benefitted from deep works of
recovery and, today, in it takes place various events of cultural, social and
recreational.
Land with ancient cultural habits, is founded in 1969, the theatre group The
Cénico , on the initiative of lawyer Jaime Gralheiro, known nationally as
theatrologist and encroacher. This theatrical grouping has turned into a short time, in a
vehicle of culture and animation in the Region, coming to conquer a striking place in the
Portuguese theatrical panorama despite, unfortunately, having suspended its activity in
2007.
The Band Philharmonic Harmony , founded in 1865, remains firmly in the senda
of its cultural and entertainment mission.
One other Philharmonic Band exists in the Pinho's freguesia.
In some concelain freguesters, there are cultural and recreational associations,
to which are associated folkloric ranches and groups of traditional canners. Of these
last, highlight themselves by their national projection o Alafum Group and the Group of
Canners of Manhouce, in which it stands out the melodious voice of Isabel Silvestre.
3.2. Local newspapers
In S. Pedro do Sul are edited presently two papers, Gazette of the Beira and
Newspaper of Lafões . However, from more than a century to this part, others have published themselves
in this concelho:
The Lafonense -weekly surged in January 1891.
The Comarch -Published in 1898.
The Vouga -"Folha agricultural, commercial, literary and newsworthy", from 1899 a to 1912.
The Progress -weekly " progressive that was published on Sundays, in
1903.
Echoes of the Vouga -weekly "Republican" who published from 1913 a to 1915.
Uproar -Published shortly after the previous one.
The Defense -"Independent Quinzenario" published from 1921 a to 1926.
Mail from S. Pedro do Sul -Started its publication in 1922.
People of the Beira -"regionalist Trimensary" (1ª series), with publication in 1936
and 1937. In 1939, it appeared in 2ª series, surviving up to 1943.
Tribune of Lafões -Quinzenario regionalist ", Aseem in January 1953,
suspending publication in 1997.
News from Lafões -Founded in 2004 as fortnighteenth, passed after the
weekly. It continues to be edited.
3.3. Local Radio
Founded in 1985, by a group of young people exists in S. Pedro do Sul one of the
more dynamic local radios from the Viseu District, Radio Lafões. After some
difficulties and its legalization in 1988, turned into a cooperative, being today
one of the most overheard local broadcasters in the region.
3.4. Crafts
In the 60 of the last century, together with some craftsmen and craftsmen,
coexisted variadic craftsmen of products and artefacts of demanding and
patient labor manual as such lighters, shoemakers, tailors, albardeiros, ferrador,
millers, dockies, singles that would rent the granite, civilian sawtoilets that made of the
iron bar beautiful twists and arabesque, which in many cases took their
saberes for cities such as Lisbon, Porto and Rio de Janeiro.
Of this intense activity there are still some nuclei of craftsmen, who continue
to develop its activity in areas such as weaving, the recovery of mills and
the gifter, on the initiative of associations scattered by the county.
4. MONUMENTAL HERITAGE
S. Pedro do Sul has a wealth of monumental heritage of which they excelled
the following elements:
Roman resort of the Terms- In the Terms of S. Pedro do Sul there are the
ruins of the "Balneum" Romano das Termas, where D. Afonso Henriques came to treat.
It has been classified as a national monument since 1938. Is in development a
project to recover these ruins, in a partnership with the IGESPAR, attentive to
importance of this monument that points out " the oldest vestige of Chronic Thermal
Portuguese ".
Palace of the Marquis of Reriz -Imponent in its architectural mass
setecentist, attracts the looks of all how many they visit or pass through S. Pedro do Sul.
Here it became installed Queen D. Amélia, when it came to treatments on the Terms.
Palme-Moniz Palmet -Nice palmet with large front garden, which if
highlights from its 10 eight-style balcony windows.
Palacete of the Condes da Lapa -Setecentist building with ample inner courtyard and
11 balcony windows on the main facade.
Lacerda's Correia Correia's Palmet Antiquated senhorial building, with crest
which must be unique in the Country: over the weapons of the original coat of arms, were placed, in the
séc. XIX, two lions rampans of inca origin or azteca.
Balneary Queen D. Amélia -Located in the Terms, was inaugurated in 1888
and subsequently enlarged. In addition to its beautiful façade, it has in its interior a nucleus
museological where old equipment of thermal treatments can be enjoyed.
Building of the Paths of the Concelho -The magnification, at the end of 20, principles of
30 of the twentieth century, of the old Chamber building, installed in the convent of the friars,
resulted in a magnificent and grandiose "Domus Municipalis", of massive and well-worked
granite balcony stands out from the facade where the arms of the concelho emphasize
also "surrendered" in granite by hands of a canker artist. Dominates a wide wide
frontrunner ("Largo of the House") and the aprazorous Municipal Garden.
INATEL Center of Fteries -This former Hotel Palace of the Terms is a
large and majestic romantic style building that impresses for its exterior beauty
and interior.
Convent Franciscan of S. Joseph -It is an ancient convent, converted into
Pains of the Concelho (the part adjacent to the Church) is the heritage symbol of this Municipality
which has existed since 1834. Your Church (known since always as a Church of the Convent)
has a majestic façade, implanted at the top of a large granite staircase.
In its interior, among other images stands out, by its beauty and dimension, the
of Nth. Lady of the Conception, at the altar-mor, the Padroeira da Vila who, on December 8,
goes out on the street, in concorrida procession.
Chapel of St. António -Property of local Mercy and implanted in
privileged location of the Villa, together with the Reriz Palace, has an attractive façade of rich
bearded Portuguese baroque style.
Chapel of S. Sebastião -Close to the Convent, it is a temple of architecture
simple, but very old. Until recently, there had been its headquarters the Brotherhood of S.
Sebastiao.
Chapel of S. Martin -Small but old-fashioned chapel of the Terms that has
as orago the aforementioned Saint. On November 11, great festivity, coming out
the image to the street, in procession. On the eve, at night, there is always the traditional magusto,
accompanied by the new wine.
5. FAIRS, PARTIES AND ROMICES
Fairs of the Village :
Fair Old (monthly)-at 2ª fair between days 16 and 22 of each month.
Fair New-(monthly)-In the first 5ª fair of every month.
Fair in South, on Sundays.
Party and Romarias:
Annual holidays of the Village-Commemorative of the day of S. Peter, Municipal Holiday.
N. Srth. From the Conception, in the Villa
N. Srl of Health, in the Terms
N. Srth of the Livament, in Negrelos
N. Srth of Nazareth, in Drizes.
Saint António, in the Villa
6. INFRASTRUCTURES AND EQUIPMENT
S. Pedro do Sul has the following equipment in the area covering the seat of the
Concelho and freguesia of S. Pedro do Sul, as well as in the freguesia of Várzea, where if
locate the Terms of S. Pedro do Sul:
Centre of Health, with Basic Urgency Service;
The Terms of S. Pedro do Sul, composed of two thermal establishments, which for
in addition to providing you with terse treatments have basic health care and support
doctor with 12 physicians and physical and rehabilitation medicine.
Private medical clinics: 3
Laboratories of private analyses: 3
Pharmacies: 4
Associations of Social Solidarity: Santa Casa da Misericórdia, with Home and Centre of
Day
Fire corporations: 2
House of spectacles: the Cine Theater S. Peter
There are still several cultural insole equipments run by Associations
as, for example, the Cultural Association of Drizes, the United Association of the Station,
the Cultural and Recreational Association of Negrelos, the Cultural and Sports Association of
Travanca, the Cultural and Recreational Association of Arcozelo, the St. Peter's Club of the
South, the Group of Bombs and Tarolas de Negrelos, the Southern St. Peter's Group of Cordas
-Tocata, the Popular Theatre Group-Cénico, the Folkloric Ranch the Lavrirs of
Negrelos, the Philharmonic Musical Society Harmony of S. Pedro do Sul, the Demola-
motorised sports, the Sports Union Sampedrense, the Education Association
Physics and Sport of Saint Peter of the South, the Association of Social Solidarity of Lafões,
the Lafões's Club of Hunting and Fisheries, the Academic Footlafan Association, the Association
Cultural and Social Recreation of the Bridge Neighborhood and the Sport Club of Drizes:
Libraries: the Municipal Library, the Library based in the Terms of S. Pedro do
South, on the premises of the Resort Queen Dona Amélia, the Libraries of the Basic School
Integrated 2/3 and the Secondary School of S. Pedro do Sul;
Two Internet Spaces
6.1. Hoteleiras facilities
Hotel facilities, which offer more than two thousand beds, constituting, by this, the
largest hotel park in the Viseu district:
A 4-star Hotel starring 3-star Hotels;
Four Hotels of 2 stars;
Two Residential Ones;
Six Pensions;
Seven units of Tourism in rural space;
Four units of Housing Tourism;
Twenty Restaurants;
Seven Pastries;
Seventeen Cafés;
Four Bares;
A Discoteca;
Two medium-size commercial surfaces.
6.2. Educational establishments
Integrated Basic School 2/3
S. Pedro Secondary School of the South;
Three Institutions of primary education;
Pre-primary and nursery education institutions: Three
Private educational establishments: A Children's Garden
6.3. Sport
Municipal Sports Centre;
Three Gimnosporting Pavilion;
Three Polidsports;
Two Fields of games;
Two Municipal Swimming Pools.
6.4. Other Equipment and Services
Two Industrial Parks;
A Security and Civil Protection service integrated into the City Hall;
Post of GNR
Two fire barracks;
Post office, telegraphs and telephones;
Postal Distribution Center;
Twelve Telephone public posts;
Five Bank Branches;
Two Veterinary Clinics;
Distribution of Finance and Treasury of Public Finance
Public transport secured by the Guedes trucking company.
There are in this territorial space 8 parks and public gardens and 4 river beaches
Judicial Court
Notary Private
Conservatory of the Civil, Commercial and Predial Register
Regional Social Security Service
Post of Tourism
Thermal Museum
Ecopist resulting from the transformation of the former line of the iron path of the Valley of the
Vouga between S. Pedro do Sul and Viseu.
7. DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERIZATION
The area corresponding to the ensemble of the freguesias of S. Pedro do Sul and Várzea has a
total of 5572 inhabitants, according to the 2001 census.
The two freguesies are interlinked and represent a universe of 4600 voters from
deal with the map with the number of voters enrolled in the electoral census
published in the Journal of the Republic, II Series, No 43, of March 3, 2009.
Attending to which the Villa of S. Pedro do Sul develops presently in the area of
freguesias of S. Pedro do Sul and Várzea, these two freguesias meet the conditions
provided for in Law No. 11/82 to be elevated to the category of Town, morally face to the
provisions of Article 14º, by which the Deputies of the Social Democratic Party, below
signed, present, under the applicable legal and regimental provisions, the
next Draft Law:
SINGLE ARTICLE
It is created the city of S. Pedro do Sul, which covers the area corresponding to the present
freguesias of S. Pedro do Sul and of Várzea.
Palace of S. Bento, March 19, 2009
The Deputies of the PSD
José Cesario Helena Oliveira
José Luís Arnaut António Almeida Henriques
Carlos Miranda