Santarém

TERRITORY AND COMMUNITY

Bathed by the Tejo river, Santarém, capital of Ribatejo and Scalabis for the Romans of the ancient Empire, it was always present in the main moments of the history of Portugal: from the entry of D. Afonso Henriques in the city on March 15th of 1147, until the departure, towards Lisbon, from the tanks commanded by Captain Salgueiro Maia, at dawn on April 25th of 1974, which in a few hours conquered a free and democratic country.

The first documented vestiges of human occupation in Santarém date back to 900 BC. Among the main attractions of this municipality, the streets and alleys paved and cut by medieval designs and temples built between the 13th and 15th centuries stand out, which gives the city its epithet as “Capital of the Portuguese Gothic”, and the Jardim Portas do Sol, with its new Interpretation Center “Urbi Scallabis”.