Elvas () is a Portuguese municipality, an episcopal city and frontier fortress of
Portugal, located in the district of
Portalegre in
Alentejo. It is situated about 230 km east of
Lisbon, and about 15 km west of the
Spanish fortress of
Badajoz, by the
Madrid-Badajoz-Lisbon railway. The city itself has a population of 18,106.
History
Elvas lies on a hill 8 km northwest of the river
Guadiana. It is defended by seven bastions and the two forts of Santa Luzia and Nossa Senhora da Graça. Its late
Gothic cathedral, which has also many traces of
Moorish influence in its architecture, dates from the reign of
Manuel I of Portugal (1495-1521). A 6 km long
aqueduct supplies the city with pure water; it was begun early in the 15th century and completed in 1622. For some distance it includes four tiers of superimposed arches, with a total height of 40 m. The surrounding lowlands are very fertile, and Elvas is known for its olives and plums, the last-named being exported, either fresh or dried, in large quantities.
Brandy is distilled and pottery manufactured in the city. The fortress of
Campo Maior, 15 km to the northeast, is famous for its siege by the French and relief by the British under
Marshal Beresford in 1811, an exploit commemorated in a ballad by Sir
Walter Scott.It was wrested from the Moors by
Afonso I of Portugal in...
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