Viseu, officially the City of Viseu, is a city and municipality in the Central Region of Portugal and the capital of the district of the same name, with a population of 103,502 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.

History

The origins of the city of Viseu date back to the pre-Roman period of the Celts and Lusitanians. Vissaîegobor is the name given to the settlement that later became the city of Viseu, Portugal, during the pre-Roman period. It is believed to be of Celtic or Lusitanian origin. The city was renamed as *Vissaium during the Romanization period, with a possible Latinized suffix.

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 Lusitanian 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.

Middle Ages

The origins of Viseu extend to proto-history, when migrating groups settled the territory, including the Celts and Lusitanians. Roman colonists settled in these territories during eras of prosperity and peace, leading eventually to a succession of rulers, namely Suebic, Gothic and Muslim. By the mid sixth century, the Suebians had already established a community, with a bishop elected by the suffrage of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Braga. 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. 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;

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Human geography

Administratively, the municipality is divided into 25 civil parishes:

  • Abraveses
  • Barreiros e Cepões
  • Boa Aldeia, Farminhão e Torredeita
  • Bodiosa
  • Calde
  • Campo
  • Cavernães
  • Cota
  • Couto de Baixo e Couto de Cima
  • Faíl e Vila Chã de Sá
  • Fragosela
  • Lordosa
  • Mundão
  • Orgens
  • Povolide
  • Ranhados
  • Repeses e São Salvador
  • Ribafeita
  • Rio de Loba
  • Santos Evos
  • São Cipriano e Vil de Souto
  • São João de Lourosa
  • São Pedro de France
  • Silgueiros
  • Viseu

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 Portuguese 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.

International relations

As of 2023, Viseu is twinned with:

  • Abidjan, Ivory Coast
  • Arezzo, Italy
  • Campinas, Brazil
  • Cantagalo, São Tomé and Príncipe
  • Elvas, Portugal
  • Haskovo, Bulgaria
  • Lublin, Poland
  • Marly-le-Roi, France
  • Matola, Mozambique
  • Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • São Filipe, Cape Verde
  • Taiyuan, China

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 malls (the (2005) and the (2008, it includes cinemas and the only ice rink in Portugal)), 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.

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.

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.

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.

<gallery mode="packed">

File:Viseu - Sé 1.jpg|Cathedral of Viseu

File:SJTarouca.jpg|São João da Tarouca convent

File:Viseu - Teatro Viriato (2).jpg|Viriato Theatre, Portugal

File:Viseu - Camara.jpg|Town hall of Viseu

File:ViseuCathedral.jpg|Towers and façade of the Cathedral

File:SeViseuInterior.jpg|Interior of Viseu Cathedral

File:Viseu, Largo do Pintor Gata (5986880129).jpg|Viseu, Portugal

File:Nt-Viseu-Porta dos Cavaleiros.jpg|Remains of the city wall.

File:Inside Igreja da Misericórdia de Viseu.jpg|Altar of Igreja da Misericórdia.

File:Viseu-Vista.jpg|View of Viseu

File:Forum de Viseu.jpg|Viseu's Forum

File:Viseu - Palácio do Gelo - Etages intérieurs.JPG|Palácio do Gelo, Viseu

File:Viseu - Banco de Portugal (2).jpg|Bank of Portugal

File:Visecentro.JPG|Town centre of Viseu

</gallery>

Notable citizens

140px|thumb|Edward, King of Portugal in Monastery Santa Maria da Vitoria in Batalha

  • Edward, King of Portugal (1391–1438), known as Duarte, King of Portugal, 1433 to 1438
  • Vasco Fernandes (ca.1475 – ca.1542), better known as Grão Vasco, one of the principal Portuguese Renaissance painters
  • João de Barros (ca.1496 – 1570) historian, famous for his Décadas da Ásia, a history of the Portuguese in India, Asia, and southeast Africa.
  • Antonio Thomas (ca.1520 – 1590s) a marine and conquistador in service of the Spanish crown.
  • Manuel de Almeida (1580–1646) member of the Society of Jesus, missionary to India
  • Beatriz Pinheiro (1872–1922) a writer and a pacifist concerned to improve the rights of women.
  • Judite Teixeira (1880-1959) a writer of three books of poetry and a book of short stories
  • Carlos de Liz-Texeira Branquinho (1902–1973) a Portuguese diplomat, saved the lives of 1,000 Jews in Nazi-occupied Hungary
  • Manuel Maria Carrilho (born 1951) a philosopher, academic and politician; Minister of Culture, 1995 to 2000
  • Álvaro Santos Pereira (born 1972) an economist, professor, writer and government minister between 2011 and 2013.
  • Nuno Loureiro (1977-2025) a plasma physicist and professor

Sport

thumb|140px|Carlos Lopes, 1985

  • Carlos Lopes (born 1947 in Vildemoinhos) a former long-distance runner, won the 1984 Summer Olympics marathon; the first Portuguese Olympic gold medalist
  • Paulo Sousa (born 1970) is a former footballer, with 256 club caps and 51 for Portugal, later coach for ACF Fiorentina and the Poland national football team.
  • Paulo Gomes (born 1975) a retired footballer with 296 club caps
  • Bruno Madeira (born 1984) a footballer with over 360 club caps
  • Fernando Ferreira (born 1986) a footballer with over 330 club caps
  • Tiago Gonçalves (born 1986) a footballer with 247 caps with Académico de Viseu
  • Fábio Santos (born 1988) footballer with over 300 club caps, plays for Académico de Viseu
  • Neide Simões (born 1988) a women's football goalkeeper, played 60 times for the Portugal women's national football team
  • Bruno Loureiro (born 1989) a footballer with over 270 club caps, plays for Académico de Viseu
  • André Coelho (born 1993) a futsal player with 41 caps with the Portugal national futsal team
  • Rui Miguel (born 1983) a footballer with over 330 club caps
  • João Félix (born 1999) a football player with AC Milan, with 51 caps for Portugal
  • António Silva, footballer born 2003

Notes

References