Sintra

Municipality

A view of Sintra's historical centre

Flag

Coat of arms

Coordinates: 38°47′57″N 9°23′18″W / 38.79917°N 9.38833°WCoordinates: 38°47′57″N 9°23′18″W / 38.79917°N 9.38833°W

Country

Portugal

Government

• President

Basílio Horta (PS)

Area

• Total

319.23 km² (123.26 sq mi)

Elevation

175 m (574 ft)

Lowest elevation

0 m (0 ft)

Population (2011)

• Total

377,835

• Density

1,200/km² (3,100/sq mi)

Time zone

WET/WEST (UTC+0/+1)

Postal code

2714

Area code

219

Patron

São Pedro

Website

http://www.cm-sintra.pt

UNESCO World Heritage Site
Cultural Landscape of Sintra
Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List

Location	Portugal
Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii, iv, v
Reference	723
UNESCO region	Europe and North America
Inscription history
Inscription	1995 (19th Session)

Sintra (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈsĩtɾɐ]) is a town and a municipality in the Grande Lisboa subregion (Lisbon Region) of Portugal, considered part of the Portuguese Riviera. The municipality contains two cities: Queluz and Agualva-Cacém. The population in 2011 was 377,835, in an area of 319.23 square kilometres (123.26 sq mi).

Sintra is known for its many 19th-century Romantic architectural monuments, which has resulted in its classification as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Although its heritage in buildings and nature is the most visible face of the historic individuality of Sintra, a whole literary heritage has made the area a legendary reference in Portuguese culture. It has become a major tourist centre, visited by many day-trippers who travel from the capital Lisbon. In addition to the Sintra Mountains and Sintra-Cascais Nature Park, the parishes of the town of Sintra are dotted with royal retreats, estates, castles and other buildings, including the mediaeval Castelo dos Mouros, the Pena National Palace and the Sintra National Palace.

The earliest remnants of human occupation were discovered in Penha Verde: these vestiges testify to an occupation dating to the early Paleolithic. Comparable remnants were discovered in an open-air site in São Pedro de Canaferrim, alongside the chapel of the Castelo dos Mouros (Moorish Castle), dating back to the Neolithic, and include decorated ceramics and microlithic flint utensils from the fifth century B.C. Ceramic fragments found locally including many late Chalcolithic vases from the Sintra mountains suggest that between the fourth and third millennia B.C. the region (adjacent to the present village of Sintra) was occupied by a Neolithic/Chalcolithic settlement, with characteristics comparable to fortified settlements in Lisbon and Setúbal. The evidence discovered in Quinta das Sequoias and São Pedro de Canaferrim contrasts dramatically with those remnants discovered in the walled town of Penha Verde and the funerary monument of Bella Vista. Traces of several Bronze Age remains were also discovered in many places in the Sintra Mountains, including alongside the town, in the Monte do Sereno area, and a late Bronze Age settlement within the Moorish Castle dating to the 9th-6th century B.C. The most famous object from this period is the so-called Sintra Collar, a middle Bonze Age gold neck-ring found near the city at the end of the nineteenth century, which since 1900 has been part of the British Museum's collection. Relatively close by, in Santa Eufémia da Serra, is an Iron Age settlement where artifacts from indigenous tribes and peoples of Mediterranean origins (principally from the Punic period) were also discovered. These date from the early 4th century, prior to the Romanization of the peninsula, which in the area of Foz do Tejo took place in the middle of the 2nd century B.C.

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Wikipedia