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Historic Centre of Guimarães
Historic Centre of Guimarães*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
	; Aerial sight of the Palace of the Dukes of Braganza (From IPPAR)
State Party	Portugal
Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii, iii, iv
Reference	1031
Region**	Europe and North America
	Inscription history
Inscription	2001 (25th Session)
	* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List.; ** Region as classified by UNESCO.

Guimarães is a city in Guimarães Municipality.

In the 9th century, Vímara Peres was able to expel the Moors and founded a fortified town under his own name Vimaranis (of Vimar) which later became Guimaranis, present day Guimarães. The city is often referred to as the "birthplace of the Portuguese nationality" and also was the birthplace of Afonso I of Portugal, the first Portuguese king.

The seat of the municipality is Guimarães city, that is made of 16 parishes and, as of 2001, has a population of 52,181^[1] inhabitants. The totality of the municipality has a population of 161,876 inhabitants in 241.3 km².

Guimarães is ranked number 2 in the Portuguese most livable cities survey of living conditions published yearly by the Portuguese newspaper Expresso.^[2]

[edit] History

The city was founded upon much older settlements by Count Vímara Peres after his namesake (Vimaranis, later Guimaranis), soon after he established the 1st County of Portugal (in 868). As the first capital of Portugal, Guimarães is known as the place where the country was born – "The Cradle City". In 1095 Count Henry of Burgundy, who had married princess Teresa of León, establishes in Guimarães the 2nd County of Portugal (Condado Portucalense). In July 25, 1109 Afonso Henriques, son of Count Henry of Burgundy, is born in this same city. That is where Duke Afonso Henriques proclaimed Portuguese independence from the Kingdom of León, after the Battle of São Mamede, declaring himself to be Afonso I, king of Portugal.

[edit] Culture and Sports

The Historic Centre of Guimarães was declared a World Heritage Site in 2001 by UNESCO, due to its Middle Age historical monuments.

The Campus of Azurém of the Minho University is located in Guimarães.

Vitória SC (also known as Vitória de Guimarães) is the most renowned sports club based in Guimarães. Moreirense FC is another club based in the municipality of Guimarães.

Guimarães was chosen by the Portuguese government to be the European Capital of Culture in 2012, since Portugal and Slovenia have scheduled for 2012 the right of having one city as European Capital of Culture. So Guimarães and Maribor will be ECC in 2012.

[edit] References

^ UMA POPULAÇÃO QUE SE URBANIZA, Uma avaliação recente – Cidades, 2004 Nuno Pires Soares, Instituto Geográfico Português (Geographic Institute of Portugal)
^ Classificação Expresso das melhores cidades portuguesas para viver em 2007, Expresso

[0] UMA POPULAÇÃO QUE SE URBANIZA, Uma avaliação recente – Cidades, 2004 Nuno Pires Soares, Instituto Geográfico Português (Geographic Institute of Portugal)

[1] Classificação Expresso das melhores cidades portuguesas para viver em 2007, Expresso

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