Barrancos is a Portuguese village in the district of Beja, Alentejo region and sub-region of Baixo Alentejo with 1435 inhabitants, Portugal
The municipality of Barrancos, made up of a single parish, is the one with the smallest population on the Continent and the third least populated in Portugal, having an area of 168.42 km2. The parish of Barrancos is limited to the north and east by the Spanish municipalities of Oliva de la Frontera and Valencia del Mombuey (province of Badajoz) and Encinasola (province of Huelva), to the south and west by the municipality of Moura and to the northwest by the municipality of Mourão.
The territory of the municipality of Barrancos was occupied by different civilizations: the Chalcolithic, the Romans, the Visigoths and was conquered from the Moors by Gonçalo Mendes da Maia (O Lidador) in the year 1167.
Gonçalo Mendes was a Portuguese aristocrat who was at the forefront of a battle against Muslims in Beja who managed to defeat the enemy and this heroic act is celebrated and known as the Lidador (Stone Statue of Gonçalo Mendes da Maia - The Lidador (1075-1170) located in the Beja Public Garden, Jardim Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral).
The Portuguese Knight with statue and shield also known as The Lidador (the worker) so called for his fearlessness in the fight against the Saracens and the statue was made by the Portuguese sculptor Júlio Vaz Júnior in 1940.
King D. Sancho I ordered the repopulation of Barrancos in 1200 and the municipal seat was located in the village of Noudar (within the fortress of the castle of the same name).
In the year 1295, King D. Dinis granted a charter to the town of Noudar, which would be definitively integrated into the Kingdom of Portugal.
In 1825, a slow process of depopulation began due to the loss of its strategic and military importance, which would allow the transition from the municipal seat to the current town of Barrancos and witnessing the gradual disappearance of its population.
Barrancos results from a transfer of population and municipal power from the old town of Noudar in 1998 as a result of an administrative reform where it was incorporated into the municipality of Moura from 1896 to 1898.
Barrancos has great cultural links with Spain since the town of Encinasola is only 9 km away from Barrancos, while the nearest Portuguese town (Santo Aleixo da Restauração) is located 21 km away.
The most visible manifestations are the Barranquenho spoken dialect and the survival of bullfighting to this day.
The fact that it borders the Spanish border also led to the development of intense smuggling activity in the town until the end of the 1970s.
The town of Barrancos is, along with Monsaraz, one of the only two places in Portugal where it is legal to kill the bull in the arena during bullfights, as the Portuguese parliament approved, in 2002, an exception regime for Barrancos that legalized this tradition.
The local gastronomy highlights the Barrancos ham, which has a protected designation of origin (PDO) in accordance with European Union standards, the Barrancos-style Açorda and the migas made in a way that is so typical of this region.
The attractions are: Parish Church of Barrancos, Bairro do Ferragial, Municipal Museum of Archeology and Ethnography of Barrancos, Monument to the Bull, Volunteer Firefighters of Barrancos, Jardin das Bicas, J.F.B. picnic park. Lunchbox, Barrancos Shooting Range, Pipa Mill, Noudar Castle, Noudar Nature Park, Noudar Biodiversity Station, Ruins of the Ermida de São Gens and Cerro de São Gens, Porto da Vinha Mill (Ribeira de Nisa) and Baloiço da Ferrenha.
The territory of the municipality of Barrancos was occupied by different civilizations: the Chalcolithic, the Romans, the Visigoths and was conquered from the Moors by Gonçalo Mendes da Maia (O Lidador) in the year 1167.
Gonçalo Mendes was a Portuguese aristocrat who was at the forefront of a battle against Muslims in Beja who managed to defeat the enemy and this heroic act is celebrated and known as the Lidador (Stone Statue of Gonçalo Mendes da Maia - The Lidador (1075-1170) located in the Beja Public Garden, Jardim Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral).
The Portuguese Knight with statue and shield also known as The Lidador (the worker) so called for his fearlessness in the fight against the Saracens and the statue was made by the Portuguese sculptor Júlio Vaz Júnior in 1940.
King D. Sancho I ordered the repopulation of Barrancos in 1200 and the municipal seat was located in the village of Noudar (within the fortress of the castle of the same name).
In the year 1295, King D. Dinis granted a charter to the town of Noudar, which would be definitively integrated into the Kingdom of Portugal.
In 1825, a slow process of depopulation began due to the loss of its strategic and military importance, which would allow the transition from the municipal seat to the current town of Barrancos and witnessing the gradual disappearance of its population.
Barrancos results from a transfer of population and municipal power from the old town of Noudar in 1998 as a result of an administrative reform where it was incorporated into the municipality of Moura from 1896 to 1898.
Barrancos has great cultural links with Spain since the town of Encinasola is only 9 km away from Barrancos, while the nearest Portuguese town (Santo Aleixo da Restauração) is located 21 km away.
The most visible manifestations are the Barranquenho spoken dialect and the survival of bullfighting to this day.
The fact that it borders the Spanish border also led to the development of intense smuggling activity in the town until the end of the 1970s.
The town of Barrancos is, along with Monsaraz, one of the only two places in Portugal where it is legal to kill the bull in the arena during bullfights, as the Portuguese parliament approved, in 2002, an exception regime for Barrancos that legalized this tradition.
The local gastronomy highlights the Barrancos ham, which has a protected designation of origin (PDO) in accordance with European Union standards, the Barrancos-style Açorda and the migas made in a way that is so typical of this region.
The attractions are: Parish Church of Barrancos, Bairro do Ferragial, Municipal Museum of Archeology and Ethnography of Barrancos, Monument to the Bull, Volunteer Firefighters of Barrancos, Jardin das Bicas, J.F.B. picnic park. Lunchbox, Barrancos Shooting Range, Pipa Mill, Noudar Castle, Noudar Nature Park, Noudar Biodiversity Station, Ruins of the Ermida de São Gens and Cerro de São Gens, Porto da Vinha Mill (Ribeira de Nisa) and Baloiço da Ferrenha.
