Vila Franca de Xira Bullring

Vila Franca de Xira (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈvilɐ ˈfɾɐ̃kɐ ðɨ ˈʃiɾɐ] ) is a city and municipality in the Lisbon District in Portugal. The population in 2021 was 137,659, in an area of 318.19 km2.Situated on both banks of the Tagus River, 32 km north-east of the Portuguese capital Lisbon, settlement in the area dates back to neolithic times, as evidenced by findings in the Cave of Pedra Furada. Vila Franca de Xira is said to have been founded by French followers of Portugal's first king, Afonso Henriques, around 1200. The town is mostly famous for its bull-running festivals in July and October. Bulls are raised in the salty marshlands of the Ribatejo, which is also a notable breeding ground for the Lusitano horse, esteemed for its quick reflexes and maneuverability. A number of brightly coloured Portuguese bullfighting costumes are on display in the ethnographic museum in the town's bullring, the Praça de Toiros (or Touros) Palha Blanco. Notably, the town was the stage for the eponymous Vilafrancada in May of 1823. The Vilafrancada was an insurrection led by prince Miguel I of Portugal, son of King John VI of Portugal, which sought to reestablish an absolutist monarchy in Portugal. This came in response to the Portuguese Constitution of 1822 - the Kingdom's first constitution - which turned Portugal from an absolutist monarchy to a parlamentarian monarchy. The Vilafrancada can be seen as a prelude to the Portuguese Civil War of 1828-34. In 1951, the town benefited from the completion of the Marechal Carmona Bridge. Located almost equidistantly between Lisbon and Santarém, The town provided an ideal place for a road bridge. The bridge was the first to cross the Tagus in the Lisbon region, and remained its only crossing until the inauguration of the 25 de Abril Bridge fifteen years later. As a result, Vilafranca experienced greater traffic and commercial opportunities during this period. Nearby, the town's Misericórdia church features striking 18th-century azulejos (glazed tiles). The town also has a Museum of Neo-Realism.Three km south of Vila Franca de Xira lies the Lezíria Grande Equestrian Centre, where visitors can watch stylish displays of the impressive Lusitano horses. The centre also stages typical bullfighting spectacles in its outdoor bullring. Visitors can ride Lusitano horses and take dressage lessons at the Quinta de São Sebastião, a sprawling estate at Arruda dos Vinhos, 11 km west of Vila Franca de Xira. The municipality contains several forts built during the Peninsular War and forming part of the Lines of Torres Vedras. These include the Fort of Subserra on the first line of defence and the Forts of Serra da Aguieira and the Fort of Casa on the second line. Another place of interest, on the left bank, is the Hermitage of Nossa Senhora de Alcamé, which was built so that farmers on the Tagus floodplain would both have somewhere to pray and also somewhere of safety during floods. An annual pilgrimage is held to the hermitage with participants going by boat from the town of Vila Franca de Xira on the right bank. The current Mayor is Fernando Paulo Ferreira, elected in 2021 as a member of the Socialist Party.

The Cave of Pedra Furada is a small cave located in the municipality of Vila Franca de Xira, about 20 km north of Lisbon in Portugal. Archaeological studies conducted within the cave suggest it was occupied intermittently by humans during at least three periods between the end of the fourth millennium BC and the second millennium BC. The cave results from karstification of the limestone Upper Jurassic Massif. The first formal archaeological excavation was carried out in 1955 by a team led by Hipólito Cabaço. This identified a communal funeral space, and radiocarbon dating of one individual's bones indicates that the use of the cave as a necropolis dates back to between 3095 BC and 2915 BC. However, it is plausible the cave may have been used as a mortuary in later periods, as around 1200 bone and tooth fragments of a minimum of 34 individuals of both sexes have been identified. Archaeologists also collected a number of objects, such as bone drills, beads of various materials, flint arrowheads, microliths, a polished stone axe, fragments of pottery and a bone figurine of a rabbit. Most of the items collected are now held in the Municipal Museum of Vila Franca de Xira and have been subjected to further analysis by Silva et al. The arrowheads are of a type consistent with those in use during the period when the cave is thought to have been first occupied while the pottery appears consistent with that in use elsewhere during the beaker culture.

Alhandra, São João dos Montes e Calhandriz is a civil parish in the municipality of Vila Franca de Xira, Portugal. It was formed in 2013 by the merger of the former parishes Alhandra, São João dos Montes and Calhandriz. The population in 2011 was 12,866, in an area of 27.54 km².Famous Portuguese explorer Afonso de Albuquerque was born in Alhandra.

The Fort of Subserra (No. 1), also known as the Fort of Alhandra, is situated at 142 metres above sea level close to Alhandra in the municipality of Vila Franca de Xira in the Lisbon District of Portugal. Together with other smaller redoubts and batteries that also had the Subserra name, it was built during the Peninsular War (1807–14) as part of the first line of defence of the Lines of Torres Vedras planned by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington to protect the Portuguese capital of Lisbon and, if necessary, his own retreat.

The Hermitage of Nossa Senhora de Alcamé (Our Lady of Alcamé) (Portuguese: Ermida de Nossa Senhora de Alcamé) is situated on the Lezíria flood plain on the left bank of the River Tagus, in the municipality of Vila Franca de Xira in the Lisbon District of Portugal. Designed by José Manuel de Carvalho e Negreiros, its construction was ordered in 1746 by the First Patriarch of Lisbon, Tomás de Almeida, and continued until around 1755.

Cardosas is a civil parish in the municipality of Arruda dos Vinhos, Portugal. The population in 2011 was 836, in an area of 6.01 km2.

Alverca do Ribatejo e Sobralinho is a civil parish in the municipality of Vila Franca de Xira, Portugal. It was formed in 2013 by the merger of the former parishes Alverca do Ribatejo and Sobralinho. The population in 2011 was 36,120, in an area of 23.92 km2.

Carregado (Portuguese pronunciation: [kɐʁɨˈɣaðu]) is a former civil parish, located in the municipality of Alenquer, in western Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Carregado e Cadafais. It has a population of 9,066 inhabitants and a total area of 15.52 km2. The town is a north-east exurb of Lisbon. The railway between Carregado and Lisbon was the first line to be built in Portugal; it opened in 1856.

Alverca do Ribatejo (Portuguese pronunciation: [alˈvɛɾkɐ ðu ʁiβɐˈtɛʒu]) is a city (cidade) and a former civil parish in the municipality of Vila Franca de Xira, Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Alverca do Ribatejo e Sobralinho.It covers an area of 17.89 square kilometres (6.91 sq mi) and as of 2011 had a population of 31,070, making it the largest city in the municipality of Vila Franca de Xira. It was promoted to city status in 1990. It is a city and a suburb near the Tagus River (rio Tejo), in the Lisbon metropolitan area. Alverca has been deeply connected with aviation since the early 20th century. A military air base was built there in 1918. The aerospace company OGMA, the Portuguese Air Force General Storage, the Air Force Aerodrome Engineering Unit and a branch of the Air Museum are presently based there. The Alverca aviation facilities also housed the first international airport of Portugal, closed after the inauguration of Lisbon Airport in 1942. Philippe Cousteau died in 1979 after his flying boat crashed into the Tagus in the vicinity of Alverca.

The Lezíria Bridge (Portuguese: Ponte da Lezíria) is a box girder bridge flanked by viaducts and rangeviews that spans the Tagus river and the Sorraia River between Carregado and Benavente, north-east of Lisbon, capital of Portugal. It is the third-longest bridge in Europe (including viaducts) with a total length of 12 km. The main bridge spans 972 m over the Tagus and the Sorraia rivers. The span lengths are 95 m - 127 m - 133 m - 4 × 130 m - 95 m. The bridge was constructed in 21 months using the balanced cantilever method and opened to traffic in July 2007.

The Forts of Serra da Aguieira (Hills of Aguieira) were three forts constructed within 100 metres of each other as part of the second line of defence of the so-called Lines of Torres Vedras, which were constructed by Anglo-Portuguese forces in 1810 in order to protect the Portuguese capital Lisbon from possible invasion by the French during the Peninsular War. The forts are situated in the municipality of Vila Franca de Xira, in the Lisbon District of Portugal. From north to south the three forts are the Fort of Aguieira, the Fort of Portela Grande, and the Fort of Portela Pequena.

The Fort of Cego is located in the municipality of Arruda dos Vinhos, in the Lisbon District of Portugal. It is also known as the Fort of Saint Sebastian (Portuguese: Forte de S. Sebastião). The fort was built in 1809-10 as part of the first of the three Lines of Torres Vedras, which were defensive lines to protect the Portuguese capital Lisbon from invasion by the French during the Peninsular War (1807–14) or, in the event of defeat, to safely embark a retreating British Army.