A journey through time and space
Towards Leiria's history
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MoreThe urban evolution of Leiria
In a national and European context, the city of Leiria is today an urban centre of undeniable potential. If the role it played throughout its past has naturally varied, a significant growth is ...
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MoreThe first human settlements
The origin of Leiria, which is located approximately at the end of the first third of the course of the river Lis, is connected to the dome of ophitic dolerite rocks. On it the castle was built and ...
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MoreFrom the late prehistory settlement to the roman period
Archaeology has shown an intense occupation for at least the last five millennia of the area where today Leiria Castle stands. Traces of human presence go back to the Copper Age, or the Chalcolithic ...
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MoreCollippo and the roman settlement
The city of Collippo, a small Roman municipium referred to by Plinius, is located south of Leiria. It is within the boundaries of the current municipality and with most of its occupation area inside ...
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MoreThe High Middle Age. Worlds of the North and worlds of the South
The arrival of new peoples from central and eastern Europe change the current reality during the Roman age. A new structure of settlement begins to emerge. The traces of this period in Leiria are ...
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MoreLate Middle Ages. The city of Leiria
The city of Leiria, organised from a fortified strategic position, will undergo, just like any other Portuguese medieval town south of Coimbra, a development that combines a process of pacification ...
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MoreDowntown medieval village
In medieval Leiria there is a commercial and cultural friendliness between Muslims, Christians and Jews. They all share the medieval town outside the walls. Traces of the Jewish presence in Leiria ...
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MoreThe city of Leiria
Leiria becomes a Diocese and City in 1545 after a period of sharp physical and social change. The expulsion of the Jews in 1496 by the royal decree of King Manuel I, in order to maintain the ...
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MoreThe stately city
The graphic representations of the city of Leiria are scarce for the modern era. Among these we highlight the image of Leiria included in a small book of prints of Portuguese cities from the 17th ...
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MoreThe city and the House of the Infantado
In the middle of the 17th century, in the aftermath of the establishment of the house of Braganza, the assets of the Vila Real are handed over by King D. João IV, to the administration of the House ...
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MoreThe French invasions and the liberal wars
The first decades of the 19th century were marked by the Napoleonic Invasions and by a civil war that resulted in the establishment of a constitutional monarchy. Military cartography appears more as ...
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MoreThe 19th century
In the 19th century the image of Leiria changed, namely after 1880. The city gained an urban appearance after the disappearance of the Palace of the Vila Real; the construction of the D. Maria Pia ...
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MoreThe 20th century
The end of the MonarchyIn 1902, Tito Larcher copies the plan drawn by Major Manoel Joaquim Brandão de Sousa in the beginning of the 19th century, dated 1816, naming it “Plan of the City of Leiria in the year of 1809”. ...
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MoreThe 20th century
The 1st RepublicWhen the last nun of the Convent of Saint Anne dies in 1880, it closes permanently and in 1903 the Ministry of Finance informs the City Hall that it will assign the grounds surrounding the old ...
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MoreThe 20th century
The End of the First RepublicBased on the blueprint of the city of Leiria done in 1918-1919 by Lieutenant Colonel Alexandre Baptista da Costa Pereira, two proposals were presented after tender: one from the architect Cristino da ...
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MoreThe 20th century
The “New State”In 1938, with Ernesto Korrodi as head of Leiria City Hall technical services, an update of the plan of the city was made based on the blueprint of the city from 1918-1919, with proposals for road ...
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MoreThe 20th century
The “New State” – AffirmationAn affirmation of the “New State” in the political and economic plans also corresponds with an urban aspect, an expression that can be seen in countless plans of the country’s main cities and ...
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MoreThe 20th century
A New Urban GrowthIn 1947 the city already shows signs of its future expansion, specifically with the industrial growth to the north, on the right bank of the river, where some companies are located, such as: ...
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MoreThe 20th century
Expansion and new functionsThe city is densifying. Its expansion to the south is conditioned by the Lis and Lena valleys and the estate “Prisão Escola”. The city grows along the axes defined by the roads of Cortes and ...
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MoreThe 20th century
The End of the “New State” – DemocracyHeld in 1977 the exhibition “O Saque da Cidade de Leiria” is the first public manifestation of a new conscience, resulting on one hand from the establishment of a new democratic regime and on the ...
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MoreThe 20th century
Rural UrbanizationThe attempt to prepare an urbanization plan for the city of Leiria is unsuccessful and will be temporarily abandoned. Public administration pursues a development brought about by private initiative, ...
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MoreThe 20th century
The making of the Municipal City PlanningIn the late 1970’s of the last century, Évora was a pioneer city regarding the development of a Municipal Planning for the entire Municipality. In 1982 the first diploma on Municipal City Planning ...
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MoreThe 21th century
The city heading towards a new centuryThe need to promote a qualitative transformation of the city was felt towards the end of the 20th century, thus leading to the initiatives taken locally to be included in the environmental programs ...
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MoreThe 21th century
Awe, disappointments and strategies for the futureCurrent city planning rules require a more demanding legislation regarding cartography and the accuracy used, registration and the connection with all the environmental issues concerning ecosystems ...
