Évora

Sister cities

• Suzdal
• Vidigueira
• Sines
• Island of Mozambique
• Angra do Heroísmo
• Chartres
• Tønsberg

History

Évora has a history dating back more than five millennia. It was known as Ebora by the Celtici, a tribal confederacy, south of the Lusitanians (and of Tagus river), who made the town their regional capital. The etymological origin of the name Ebora is from the ancient Celtic word ebora/ebura, the genitive plural form of the word eburos (yew), the name of a species of tree, so its name means "of the yew trees." The city of York, in northern England, at the time of the Roman Empire, was called Eboracum/Eburacum, after the ancient Celtic place name *Eborakon (Place of Yew Trees), so the old name of York is etymologically related to the city of Évora. Alternative hypotheses are that the name is derived from oro, aurum, (gold) as the Romans had extensive gold mining in Portugal; or it may have been named after ivory workers because ebur (genitive eboris) was Latin for ivory. It may have been capital of the kingdom of Astolpas. See Ebora Liberalitas Julia for more on Roman Évora. The Romans conquered the town in 57 BC and expanded it into a walled town. Vestiges from this period (city walls and ruins of Roman baths) remain. Julius Caesar called it Liberalitas Julia (Julian generosity). The city grew in importance because it lay at the junction of several important routes. During his travels through Gaul and Lusitania, Pliny the Elder also visited this town and mentioned it in his book Naturalis Historia as Ebora Cerealis, because of its many surrounding wheat fields. In those days, Évora became a flourishing city. Its high rank among municipalities in Roman Hispania is clearly shown by many inscriptions and coins. The monumental Corinthian temple in the centre of the town dates from the first century and was probably erected in honour of emperor Augustus. In the fourth…

Geography

Évora (altitude 300m) is situated in Alentejo, a large region of wide plains in the south of Portugal, bordered to the North by the Tagus River and to the South by the region of Algarve. The city is from the capital city Lisbon, and from Badajoz at the Spanish border. It is the chief city of the region. The seat of the municipality is the city of Évora, composed by the civil parishes of Évora (São Mamede, Sé, São Pedro e Santo Antão) in the historical centre and the urban parishes of Bacelo e Senhora da Saúde and Malagueira e Horta das Figueiras outside the ancient city walls where most of the population in fact reside. The remaining civil parishes in the municipality are rural or suburban and do not form part of the city for statistical purposes. The city's historical centre has about 4,000 buildings and an area of . Évora has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa) with hot, dry summers and mild, moist winters. Its location in the interior of southern Portugal makes it subject to frequent droughts and desertification. As is typical of the interior Alentejo, Évora is prone to severe heat extremes with an all-time record of . However, the average summer high is usually around , which is significantly less severe heat than the one found at more interior, lower altitude areas of the Iberian Peninsula. This is due to low-scale maritime effects caused by its relative proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, which also causes seasonal lag predominantly during the warmer period, with night-time temperatures being milder in September than June as well as in October compared with May. Frosts in winter are frequent but not usually severe, snow falling only about twice a decade. Évora is a pleasant medium-sized city and has numerous monuments. Due to its long history,…