Sintra

Cultural Landscape of Sintra*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
State Party	Portugal
Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii, iv, v
Reference	723
Region**	Europe and North America
Inscription history
Inscription	1995  (19th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. ** Region as classified by UNESCO.

Sintra (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈsĩtɾɐ]) is a town in Sintra Municipality in Portugal, located in the Grande Lisboa subregion and the Lisbon Region. The town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site on account of its 19th century Romantic architecture.

Sintra has become a major tourist attraction, with many day-trippers visiting from nearby Lisbon. Attractions include the fabulous Pena Palace (19th c.) and the Castelo dos Mouros (reconstructed 19th c.) with a breath-taking view of the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, and the summer residence of the kings of Portugal Palácio Nacional de Sintra (largely 15th/16th c.), in the town itself. The Sintra Mountain Range, one of the largest parks in the Lisbon area, (Serra de Sintra) is also a major tourist attraction.

In 1809 Lord Byron wrote to his friend Francis Hodgson, "I must just observe that the village of Cintra in Estremadura is the most beautiful in the world."

Demographics

The population of the town is ca. 33 000 people.

Parishes

The town includes the following parishes

• Sintra (Santa Maria e São Miguel)
• Sintra (São Martinho)
• Sintra (São Pedro de Penaferrim)

History

The town was already described in the 11th century by the Arab geographer Al-Bacr and later by the poets Luís de Camões and Lord Byron (Childe Harold's Pilgrimage - 1809). The Moors built the Castelo dos Mouros in the 8th or 9th century. When Afonso Henriques, with the aid of Crusaders, recaptured Sintra in 1147, much of the castle was destroyed. Only four square towers, the battlements, and the ruins of a Romanesque chapel survived.

In 1493, Christopher Columbus sailing for the Spanish crown, was blown off course by gale force winds and fearing for the survival of his ship, spotted the Rock of Sintra. Despite the awkwardness of seeking safe harbor in Portugal, Columbus had no choice under the circumstances and sailed from there into the Port of Lisbon.

In 1507, Diogo Boitac built the Hieronymite monastery of Nossa Senhora da Pena on the nearby hilltop. In 1527 king Manuel I commissioned to Nicolau Chanterene the large, white marble and alabaster altarpiece for the chapel. This retable is his finest work.

In 1808, it was the site of the signing of the controversial Convention of Sintra, which ended the first French invasion of Portugal.

Geography and economy

Major activities in the area are commerce and tourism. Tourists are drawn by the cultural heritage in the town itself, and Sintra-Cascais Natural Park which encompasses the Serra de Sintra and extends to the coastal beaches of the municipality and Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point of mainland Europe, which lies 18 kilometres west of Sintra. The parishes of Sintra near Lisbon are in a demographic and construction boom; some of them have more residents than many important municipalities of Portugal. Sintra may, in the next 20 years, grow to have a larger population than the capital Lisbon, forming a single continuous urban area with Amadora, Loures, Odivelas, Oeiras, Cascais and Lisbon with a population of over 2,000,000.

Cultural Landscape of Sintra

In 1995 Sintra was designated World Heritage Site for the "Cultural Landscape of Sintra". It includes:

• Quinta da Regaleira including the Palace and the Chapel
• Pena National Palace
• Sintra National Palace
• Monserrate Palace
• Seteais Palace
• Castle of the Moors (Castelo dos Mouro)

Transportation

Some areas of the municipality close to Lisbon are essentially residential suburbs already in conurbation with Amadora, Odivelas. According to recent statistics,^{[citation needed]} Sintra's suburban railway is the most crowded suburban train system in Europe and IC-19 (the highway from Lisbon to Sintra) is the most traffic-congested in Europe. Sintra's problems include major pendular movements to Lisbon, with terrible traffic during rush hour on the IC-19 road to Lisbon.

Twinned cities

The following places are sister cities to Sintra:

• Omura, Japan
• Honolulu, USA

Within the context of development cooperation, Sintra is also linked to:

• Asilah, Morocco (since August 2006)
• El Jadida, Morocco
• Trindade, São Tomé & Príncipe
• Bissau, Guinea-Bissau
• Lobito, Angola
• Havana, Cuba
• Vila Nova Sintra, Cape Verde Islands
• Petrópolis, Brazil
• Namaacha, Mozambique

Gallery

See also: Sintra National Palace

Monserrate Palace	Royal Palace	Queluz National Palace	Sintra National Palace
City Hall, Sintra	Fonte, Sintra	City Hall, Sintra	Sintra Palace
Sintra Palace 2	Sintra Palace 3	City Hall, Sintra	Quinta da Regaleira, Sintra

External links

• Municipality official website
• UNESCO World Heritage Page

v • d • e World Heritage Sites in Portugal Alto Douro Wine Region · Historic Centre of Angra do Heroísmo, Azores · Batalha Monastery · Convent of Christ, Tomar · Cultural Landscape of Sintra · Historic Centre of Évora · Historic Centre of Guimarães · Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture, Azores · Laurisilva of Madeira · Alcobaça Monastery · Monastery of the Hieronymites and Belém Tower, Lisbon · Historic Centre of Porto · Prehistoric Rock-Art Sites in the Côa Valley