Porto

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For other uses, see Porto (disambiguation).
Oporto redirects to here. For the restaurant chain of the same name, see Oporto (restaurant).

Template:Infobox Municipality pt Porto (in English also Oporto; Portuguese pron. IPA [[[Template:IPA]]]), formerly Portucale, population 263,000 in 15 parishes, with 1,551,950 in the metropolitan area, is Portugal's second largest city. It is the seat of the Porto district and capital of the Norte region. It is situated in the north of the country, on the northern bank of the Douro River, just in from the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Porto has a type of mediterranean climate, although its influenced by a cooler breeze from the Atlantic which make it distinguishably cooler than other Mediterranean climate cities but nonetheless during the peak of the Summer, epecially in August, temperatures can reach 40ºC.

The country of Portugal and Port Wine (Portuguese: Vinho do Porto) owe their names to the city of Porto.

One of Portugal's most internationally appreciated products is Port Wine. Its name comes from the fact that it ages in cellars in Porto's southern sister city Vila Nova de Gaia, just across the river Douro. Port Wine gets its distinctive taste from brandy that is added during the fermentation process. This additive causes fermentation to stop, allowing for much of the sweetness of the grape to remain intact. The results of this process were discovered quite by accident by British traders who added the brandy to the wine simply to fortify it for long sea voyages back to England.

Porto is the heart of Greater Porto agglomeration. It is also one of the most industrialised districts in Portugal and the city of Porto in particularly is occasionally called "A capital do norte" (English: "The Capital of the North"), for it serves as the center of a higher industrialised northern region of Portugal, and is well known for its enterprising spirit, characteristic culture, people, and local cuisine.

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History

Historic references to the city go back to the 5th century and to Roman times. In the period before the foundation of Portugal, it was named Portus Cale - Harbour of Cale in English. The surrounding county was thus named Condado Portucalense (English: Portuguese county). This county later became the independent kingdom called Portugal, which eventually expanded to its current frontiers south as it reconquered territory back from the invading Moors under the reign of King Dom Afonso Henriques, o Conquistador in the beginning of the first millennium.

This city was the scene for the marriage of João I and Philippa of Lancaster, symbolising the long-standing military alliance between Portugal and England.

In 1754, the Italian architect Nasoni designed a tower that was built in one of the central zones of the city and became its icon: Torre dos Clérigos (English: Tower of the Clerics).

During the 18th and 19th centuries the city became an important industrial centre and saw its size and population increase. A two-level iron bridge - Dom Luís I - (designed by the Belgian engineer Téophile Seyrig) and a railway bridge - Maria Pia -, designed by Gustave Eiffel, in association with Seyrig, were constructed, as well as the central railway station (São Bento, considered to be one of the most beautiful in Europe ornamented with lavish painted tiles). A university (Aula de Náutica, 1762) and stock exchange (Bolsa do Porto, 1834) were established in the city. For having bravely resisted to a military invasion in the 19th century the city is now also known as The Unvanquished City (A Cidade Invicta). Image:Porto nightscape.jpg

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Culture

The first Portuguese moving pictures were taken in Porto by Aurélio Paz do Reis and shown there in 12 November 1896 in Teatro do Príncipe Real do Porto, less than a year after the first public presentation by Auguste and Louis Lumière.

Porto has several museums, concert halls, theaters cinemas, libraries and book shops. The most well known museums of Oporto are the Soares dos Reis National Museum (Museu Nacional de Soares dos Reis) that is dedicated especially to the Portuguese artistic movements of the 19th and 20th centuries, and the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Serralves Foundation (Museu de Arte Contemporânea). The city has concert halls of a rare beauty and elegance like the Coliseu do Porto, an exquisite example of the Portuguese decorative arts, the Rivoli theatre and the more recent Batalha cinema.

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Transportation

Image:Porto view ippar.jpg Image:Dom Luis 1 bridge Porto Portugal.JPG Known as the city of bridges, the first permanent bridge, the Ponte das Barcas (a pontoon bridge) was built in 1806, but three years later was sabotaged to prevent the invasion led by Marshal Soult during the Peninsular War with Napoleonic troops, who were believed to be coming from the south. However, they appeared from the north, and the population, unware of the situation, tried to flee through it en masse, causing the death of around 4000 locals. It was replaced in 1843 by the Ponte D. Maria II, known as Ponte Pênsil (suspended), of which only the supporting pylons remain, after being replaced by the Luís I and the Maria Pia bridges. During the 20th century, other bridges were built: Arrábida, which at its opening had the biggest concrete supporting arch in the world, and connects north and south shores of the Douro on the west side of the city, S. João, to replace Maria Pia and Freixo, on the east side of the city. The newest bridge is Ponte do Infante, finished in 2003.

Porto is served by Francisco Sá Carneiro airport (IATA: OPO) which is located some 15km to the north-west of the city centre. The airport is a state-of-the-art facility, having undergone a massive program of refurbishment due to the Euro 2004 football championships being partly hosted in the city. A future metro line is planned to connect the airport with downtown, a function currently carried out by the Aerobus route. Direct flights to a growing number of major cities in Europe and the Americas are available.

Currently the major project is the Porto Metro system. It is the most expensive public construction project currently in progress in Europe, mainly due to the city's soil, which is extremely complex from a technical perspective and very expensive to dig. Consequently, the Infante bridge was built, for urban traffic, replacing the Dom Luís I, which will be dedicated to the subway on the second and higher of the bridge's two levels. As of February 2006, 4 lines are open. Lines A (blue), B (red) and C (green) all begin at Estádio do Dragão (home to FC Porto) and terminate at Senhor do Matosinhos, Póvoa de Varzim (via Pedras Rubras and Vila do Conde) and ISMAI (via Maia) respectively. Line D (yellow) currently runs from Hospital S. João in the north to João de Deus on the southern side of the Douro river. The lines intersect at the central Trindade station. Currently the whole network spans 58.2 km (36.2 miles) using 65 stations, thus being the biggest in the country. Line E (purple) will be a spur of Line B which connects to the airport, while in the future Line F (pink) is intended to run directly under Avenida da Boavista. However, this line is controversial and is still at the consultation stage.

The city has an extensive bus network run by the STCP (Sociedade dos Transportes Colectivos do Porto, or Porto Public Transport Society) which also operates lines in the neighbouring cities of Gaia, Maia and Gondomar. Other smaller companies connect such towns as Paços de Ferreira and Santo Tirso to the town center. In the past the city also had trolley-buses. A tram network, of which only a tourist line on the shores of the Douro remain, saw its construction begin in 12 September 1895, therefore being the first in the Iberian Peninsula. Taxicabs are available throughout the city and are recognizable as cream sedans (usually Mercedes-Benz models).

Image:Riodouro 27-9-2004.jpg Image:Porto Ribeira.jpg

The road system capacity is augmented by the Via de Cintura Interna, an internal highway connected to several national highways and city exits, complementing the Circunvalação 4-way road, which borders the north of the city and connects the eastern side of the city to the Atlantic shore.

Due to the works in the Porto Metro and other public services, the traffic in some areas is disrupted frequently.

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Highlights

Image:CasadaMusica.jpg In 2001, Porto shared the designation European Culture Capital (together with the Dutch city of Rotterdam). In the scope of these events, the construction of the major concert hall space Casa da Música, designed by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, was initiated.

In recent years, UNESCO recognised the historic centre (which dates back to the Middle Ages and the Roman Empire) as a World Heritage Site.

The Fantasporto International Film Festival is also a great cultural event of the city, attracting many national and foreign film commentators to the city.

Several architectonic highlights adorn the city of Porto, from the main avenue in the cities center Avenida dos Aliados [English: Allies Avenue, after Portugal's participation in WWI], to the magnificent gardens of Palacio de Cristal, and from the millennia-old well-preserved Romanic churches to the myriads of painted tile-adorned interior and exterior walls that appear in both interiors, in the São Bento Station, and exteriors, in the church of Santo Ildefonso.

A guided visit to the old city's stock exchange (Bolsa), and in particular the Arab Room, is a gem that no visitor should miss.

Oporto is a small (in the European context) but an extremely rich city in cultural and historical terms. But its progressive abandonment is very prejudicial to its integrity. The more ancient houses are abandoned and the local government doesn't practice much actions of maintenance. Many of the city's oldest houses are at risk of collapsing.

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Economy

Image:Edificio JN 3-5-04.jpg Porto has always rivaled Lisbon in economic power despite its much smaller size (approximately half the size). As the most important city in the heavily industrialised north, many of the largest Portuguese corporations are headquartered in this city.

The city's stock exchange (Bolsa do Porto) merged with Lisbon's, originating Bolsa de Valores de Lisboa, which later merged with Euronext, together with Amsterdam, Brussels, LIFFE and Paris. The building formely hosting the stock exchange is currently one of the city's touristic attractions, the Salão Árabe (Arab Room in English) being its major highlight.

Porto hosts the most popular Portuguese newspaper, Jornal de Notícias. The building where its offices are located (which has the same name as the newspaper) was up to recently one of the tallest in the city (it has been superseded by a number of modern buildings which have been built in the last 10 years).

Porto Editora, the most important Portuguese publisher, is also in Porto. Its dictionaries are the most popular reference used in the country, the translations are considered the best (the standard reference for Portuguese is the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea, da Academia das Ciências de Lisboa and the best is the Brazilian Houaiss Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa).

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Education

The city has a large number of public and private basic and secondary schools, as well as kindergartens and nurseries. Due to the depopulation of the city's interior, however, the number of students has dropped substantially in the last decade, forcing a closure of some institutions.

Porto has several institutions of higher education, the larger one being the state-managed University of Porto. The University of Porto (Universidade do Porto) is the largest Portuguese university, with approximately 35,000 students. There are also a state-managed polytechnic institute, the Instituto Politécnico do Porto (a group of technical colleges), and privately-owned institutions like the Portuguese Catholic University at Porto (Universidade Católica Portuguesa - Porto) and the Porto's Higher Education School of Arts (ESAP- Escola Superior Artística do Porto). Due to the recognition, potential for employment and higher revenue, there are many students from the entire country and Portuguese-speaking African countries, although particularly from the north of Portugal, attending a college or university in Porto.

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Sports

Image:Porto euro2004.JPG As in most Portuguese cities, football is the most important sport in the city. Top division champions FC Porto and Boavista FC are both from Porto, while SC Salgueiros, a third club, has fallen into heavy debts and now plays in the third division after being one of the most regular first division clubs during the 80s and 90s. There are two major grounds, the Estádio do Dragão and the Estádio do Bessa, owned by the two SuperLiga clubs and present in the Template:Ec2 . Salgueiros, who sold their Vidal Pinheiro ground to the Porto Metro company planned to build a new one in the Arca d'Água zone, few hundred meters away from the old grounds, but due to a large underground water pocket, it is impossible to build there, and so they moved to the Estádio do Mar in Matosinhos, owned by Leixões SC. As there isn't a multi-purpose city-owned stadium, the only with athletics track is the Estádio Universitário, where the rugby team of the CDUP (Porto University Sports Team) plays. There are other football grounds, with sand or dirt surfaces, owned by clubs in the amateur league, featured in a cult show on NTV (now RTP N) named N*Amadores, the exception being FC Porto's second stadium, the Campo da Constituição, now a footballing school.

FC Porto won the UEFA Champions League twice in 1987 and in 2004. Their long time president, Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, is one of the most charismatic figures in Portuguese football. He managed to establish FC Porto as one of the most powerful European football clubs and reduce the influence of the Lisbon clubs, which was notorious during António de Oliveira Salazar's Dictatorship. da Costa is not the only charismatic figure in the recent history of FC Porto - Jose Mourinho coached Porto to victory in the 2003 UEFA Cup (beating Celtic in the final in Seville) and their magnificent 2004 Champions League triumph which was clinched with victory over Monaco.

There are other sports arenas in Porto, notably the city-owned Pavilhão Rosa Mota (now unused due to a bad relationship between the mayor and the FC Porto board), swimming pools in the Constituição area, between the Marquês and Boavista, and other minor arenas, such as the Pavilhão do Académico.

Porto is also home to the North of Portugal's only cricket club, and possibly the oldest European cricket club outside of the British Isles, the Oporto Cricket and Lawn Tennis Club. Every year, for more than 100 years, a Cup competition has been played between the Oporto Club and the Casuals Club of Lisbon, as well as various games against touring teams, mainly from England. The Club and pitch are located off Rua Campo Alegre.

In 1958 and 1960, Porto's streets hosted the Formula One Portuguese Grand Prix on the Boavista street circuit. A reenactment of the races was held from 8 July to 10 July, 2005.

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Parishes

Image:Portoportugalaerial.jpg

  • Aldoar
  • Bonfim
  • Campanhã
  • Cedofeita
  • Foz do Douro
  • Lordelo do Ouro
  • Massarelos
  • Miragaia
  • Nevogilde
  • Paranhos
  • Ramalde
  • São Nicolau
  • Santo Ildefonso
  • Sé
  • Vitória
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Gallery

Estádio do Dragão

Estádio do Bessa

A Metro Sign and the Casa da Música concert hall

City Park

S. Bento train station

Pavilhão Rosa Mota Sports arena and XVIII aristocratic garden

Coliseu do Porto Opera, concert, and theatre house

Castelo do Queijo Coastal fortress

Ancient part of Ribeira

City Hall

Ponte D'Arrabida

Rebelo, traditional boat on Douro river

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Famous Portuenses

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Trivia

  • Invicta

Occasionally Porto is also called "Cidade Invicta" (English: Unvanquished City) after its brilliant and victorious resistance to the Napoleonic Imperial army.

  • Tripeiro

An anecdote from the times of Portugal's expansion overseas tells of the citizens of Porto providing meat for the sailors and retaining only tripes (tripas in Portuguese) for themselves. The Portans thus acquired the nickname tripeiros, which is still in use today. From the same episode a typical dish from this city was created, Tripas à Moda do Porto (Tripes à la Porto in English), which still can be found everywhere in the city today.

  • Francesinha

Francesinha ("Frenchie") is the most famous popular native snack food in Porto. It's a kind of sandwich with several meats covered with cheese and a special sauce.

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External links

Template:Municipalities of Portoar:بورتو bg:Порто (град) ca:Porto de:Porto el:Πόρτο en:Porto eo:Porto es:Oporto fa:پورتو fi:Porto fr:Porto (Portugal) hu:Porto id:Porto is:Porto it:Oporto ja:ポルト ka:პორტუ la:Portus Cale li:Port nl:Porto (stad) no:Porto pl:Porto (miasto) pt:Porto ro:Porto ru:Порту sv:Porto zh:波酒

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