Socialist Party (Portugal)
The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in Portugal. It was founded on 19 April 1973 in the German city of Bad Münstereifel, by militants from the Portuguese Socialist Action; the PS is one of the two major parties in Portuguese politics, its rival being the centre-right Social Democratic Party. The current leader of the PS is the Prime Minister of Portugal; the party has 86 of 230 seats in the Portuguese Parliament following the October 2015 election, forming a minority government. PS is a member of the Socialist International, Progressive Alliance and Party of European Socialists, has eight members in the European Parliament within the Socialists & Democrats Group during the eighth parliament; the Socialist Party was created at a conference of Portuguese Socialist Action, at that time in exile, on 19 April 1973, in Bad Münstereifel in West Germany. The twenty-seven delegates decided to found a party of socialism and freedom, making an explicit reference to a classless society and without Marxism, redesigned as a source of principal inspiration.
On 25 April 1974, the Carnation Revolution brought down the authoritarian regime of the Estado Novo, established in 1933, democracy was restored. The general secretary of the PS, Mário Soares, returned to Portugal after being in exile in France, became Minister of Foreign Affairs, António de Almeida Santos was appointed Minister of Interjurisdictional Coordination in one of the first provisional governments. After the Revolution, elections were called for 25 April 1975 and the Socialist Party won the 1975 election for the Constituent Assembly and the 1976 elections for the National Assembly losing to the Democratic Alliance in the 1979 legislative election. In 1980, the PS made an electoral alliance called the Republican and Socialist Front, between the Independent Social Democrats, led by Sousa Franco, the Leftwing Union for the Socialist Democracy, led by Lopes Cardoso; the alliance failed to defeat the AD. They won the 1983 general election, but without an absolute majority, the Socialists formed a grand coalition with the centre-right Social Democratic Party, creating a "Central Block".
The new government began negotiations for Portugal to enter the European Economic Community. In 1985 the Central Block broke down and the PS at the time led by Almeida Santos, lost the 1985 legislative election. Cavaco Silva's PSD won the 1985 elections and again in 1991 with absolute majority; the PS was in opposition for more than ten years. In 1995, the Socialist Party led by António Guterres, won a general election for the first time in twelve years, in 1999, they failed to obtain what would have been an historic absolute majority for the party by only one MP. In 2001, after a massive defeat in the 2001 local elections, António Guterres resigned as Prime Minister and called for new elections in 2002; the Socialist Party lost the 2002 general election by a small margin to the PSD, who formed a coalition government with the People's Party. In June 2004, the PS won the 2004 European elections by a landslide, a few weeks Durão Barroso, leader of the PSD and Prime Minister, resigned to become President of the European Commission.
In December 2004, Jorge Sampaio, President of the Republic, called fresh elections for February 2005. These elections resulted in a landslide victory for the PS, winning for the first time since its foundation an absolute majority. José Sócrates, leader of the PS, became Prime Minister. In 2009, after four-and-a-half years in power, the PS lost the European Parliament elections to the PSD. However, they won the general election held on 27 September but failed to renew the absolute majority they won in the 2005 election; the PS introduced and legislated same-sex marriage. The financial crisis of 2011 hit Portugal hard, prompting Sócrates' government to impose harsh austerity measures. On 23 March 2011, the entire opposition in Parliament said no to new measures proposed by the government; as a result of this, José Sócrates resigned as Prime Minister and a snap election took place on 5 June 2011. In the elections, the PS suffered a huge setback, with 28.1% of the vote, ten points behind the PSD, who formed another coalition government with the CDS-PP.
Sócrates resigned as General Secretary on election night after the PS's worst result since 1987. On 23 July 2011, António José Seguro was elected as Sócrates' successor; the PS, under the leadership of Seguro, won the 2013 local elections making significant gains over the PSD and the Socialists again won the European elections on May 2014 but this time only just. They won 31.5% of the vote against the 28% of the alliance between the PSD and CDS-PP. The result was considered quite a disappointment to many Socialist party members and supporters and on May 27 António Costa, the mayor of Lisbon, announced that he would stand for the leadership of the Socialist Party. António José Seguro refused to call a new congress and leadership election and instead called for a primary election, to be held on 28 September, to elect the party's candidate for Prime Minister in the 2015 general elections. António Costa defeated António José Seguro in the primaries by a 67% to 31% margin. In the 2015 legislative elections, the PS polled a disappointing second place, capturing just 32% of the votes against the 38.6% of the PSD/CDS-PP coalition called Portugal Ahead.
Despite the victory of the PSD/CDS-PP coalition, the centre-left and left-wing parties achieved a clear majority in Parliament. After the second Passos Coelho cabinet fell in Parliament, with the approval of a no-confidence motion, the P
Piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable items or properties. Those who engage in acts of piracy are called pirates; the earliest documented instances of piracy were in the 14th century BC, when the Sea Peoples, a group of ocean raiders, attacked the ships of the Aegean and Mediterranean civilizations. Narrow channels which funnel shipping into predictable routes have long created opportunities for piracy, as well as for privateering and commerce raiding. Historic examples include the waters of Gibraltar, the Strait of Malacca, the Gulf of Aden, the English Channel, whose geographic structures facilitated pirate attacks. A land-based parallel is the ambushing of travelers by bandits and brigands in highways and mountain passes. Privateering uses similar methods to piracy, but the captain acts under orders of the state authorizing the capture of merchant ships belonging to an enemy nation, making it a legitimate form of war-like activity by non-state actors.
While the term can include acts committed in the air, on land, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore, in cyberspace, as well as the fictional possibility of space piracy, this article focuses on maritime piracy. It does not include crimes committed against people traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator. Piracy or pirating is the name of a specific crime under customary international law and the name of a number of crimes under the municipal law of a number of states. In the early 21st century, seaborne piracy against transport vessels remains a significant issue in the waters between the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, off the Somali coast, in the Strait of Malacca and Singapore. Today, pirates armed with automatic weapons, such as assault rifles, machine guns and rocket propelled grenades use small motorboats to attack and board ships, a tactic that takes advantage of the small number of crew members on modern cargo vessels and transport ships, they use larger vessels, known as "mother ships", to supply the smaller motorboats.
The international community is facing many challenges in bringing modern pirates to justice, as these attacks occur in international waters. Some nations have used their naval forces to protect private ships from pirate attacks and to pursue pirates, some private vessels use armed security guards, high-pressure water cannons, or sound cannons to repel boarders, use radar to avoid potential threats; the English word "pirate" comes from the Latin term purateivitia and that from Greek πειρατής, "brigand", in turn from πειράομαι, "I attempt", from πεῖρα, "attempt, experience". The meaning of the Greek word peiratēs is "one who attacks"; the word is cognate to peril. The term first appeared in English c. 1300. Spelling did not become standardised until the eighteenth century, spellings such as "pirrot", "pyrate" and "pyrat" occurred until this period, it may be reasonable to assume that piracy has existed for as long as the oceans were plied for commerce. As early as 258 AD, the Gothic-Herulic fleet ravaged towns on the coasts of the Black Sea and Sea of Marmara.
The Aegean coast suffered similar attacks a few years later. In 264, the Goths reached Galatia and Cappadocia, Gothic pirates landed on Cyprus and Crete. In the process, the Goths took thousands into captivity. In 286 AD, Carausius, a Roman military commander of Gaulish origins, was appointed to command the Classis Britannica, given the responsibility of eliminating Frankish and Saxon pirates, raiding the coasts of Armorica and Belgic Gaul. In the Roman province of Britannia, Saint Patrick was enslaved by Irish pirates; the most known and far-reaching pirates in medieval Europe were the Vikings, seaborne warriors from Scandinavia who raided and looted between the 8th and 12th centuries, during the Viking Age in the Early Middle Ages. They raided the coasts and inland cities of all Western Europe as far as Seville, attacked by the Norse in 844. Vikings attacked the coasts of North Africa and Italy and plundered all the coasts of the Baltic Sea; some Vikings ascending the rivers of Eastern Europe as far as the Black Sea and Persia.
The lack of centralized powers all over Europe during the Middle Ages enabled pirates to attack ships and coastal areas all over the continent. In the Late Middle Ages, the Frisian pirates known as Arumer Zwarte Hoop led by Pier Gerlofs Donia and Wijerd Jelckama, fought against the troops of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V with some success. Toward the end of the 9th century, Moorish pirate havens were established along the coast of southern France and northern Italy. In 846 Moor raiders sacked the extra muros Basilicas of Saint Paul in Rome. In 911, the bishop of Narbonne was unable to return to France from Rome because the Moors from Fraxinet controlled all the passes in the Alps. Moor pirates operated out of the Balearic Islands in the 10th century. From 824 to 961 Arab pirates in the Emirate of Crete raided the entire Mediterranean. In the 14th century, raids by Moor pirates forced the Venetian Duke of Crete to ask Venice to keep its fleet on constant guard. After the Slavic invasions of the former Roman province of Dalmatia in the 5th and 6th centuries, a tribe called the Narentines revived the old Illyrian piratical habits and raided the Adriatic Sea starting in the 7th
Mérida, Spain
Mérida is the capital of the autonomous community of Extremadura, western central Spain. The population is 60,119 in 2017; the Augusta Emerita has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1993. Mérida has been populated since prehistoric times as demonstrated by a prestigious hoard of gold jewellery, excavated from a girl's grave in 1870. Consisting of two penannular bracelets, an armlet and a chain of six spiral wire rings, it is now preserved at the British Museum; the town was founded in 25 BC, with the name of Emerita Augusta by order of Emperor Augustus, to protect a pass and a bridge over the Guadiana river. Emerita Augusta was one of the ends of the Vía de la Plata, a strategic Roman Route between the gold mines around Asturica Augusta and the most important Roman city in the Iberian Peninsula; the city became the capital of Lusitania province, one of the most important cities in the Roman Empire. Mérida preserves more important ancient Roman monuments than any other city in Spain, including a triumphal arch and a theatre.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the Visigothic period, the city maintained much of its splendor under the 6th-century domination of the bishops, when it was the capital of Hispania. In 713 it was conquered by the Muslim army under Musa bin Nusair, became the capital of the cora of Mérida. During the fitna of al-Andalus, Merida fell in the newly established Taifa of Badajoz; the city was brought under Christian rule in 1230, when it was conquered by Alfonso IX of León, subsequently became the seat of the priory of San Marcos de León of the Order of Santiago. A period of recovery started for Mérida after the unification of the crowns of Aragon and Castile, thanks to the support of Alonso de Cárdenas, Grand Master of the Order. In 1720 the city became the capital of the Intendencia of Mérida, it is on the Via de la Plata path of the Camino de Santiago as an alternative to the French Way. In the 19th century, in the course of the Napoleonic invasion, numerous monuments of Mérida and of Extremadura were destroyed or damaged.
The city became a railway hub and underwent massive industrialization. On 10 August, 1936, during the Spanish Civil War, the Battle of Mérida saw Nationalists gain control of the city. Mérida has a Mediterranean climate with Atlantic influences, due to the proximity of the Portuguese coast; the winters are mild, with minimum temperature below 0 °C, summers are hot with maximum temperatures exceeding 40 °C. Precipitation is between 450 to 500 mm annually; the months with most rainfall are December. Summers are dry, in Mérida, as in the rest of southern Spain, cycles of drought are common, ranging in duration from 2 to 5 years. In autumn the climate is more changeable than in the rest of the year. Storms occur with some frequency, but the weather is dry. Both humidity and winds are low. However, there is frequent fog in the central months of autumn and winter. Among the remaining Roman monuments are: The Puente Romano, a bridge over the Guadiana River, still used by pedestrians, the longest of all existing Roman bridges.
Annexed is a fortification, built by the Muslim emir Abd ar-Rahman II in 835 on the Roman walls and Roman-Visigothic edifices in the area. The court houses Roman mosaics. Remains of the Forum, including the Temple of Diana, of the Roman Provincial Forum, including the so-called Arch of Trajan remains of the Circus Maximus, one of the best preserved Roman circus buildings Acueducto de los Milagros patrician villa called the Villa Mitreo, with precious mosaic pavements Proserpina Dam and Cornalvo Dam, two Roman reservoirs still in use the Amphitheatre, the Roman theatre, where a summer festival of Classical theatre is presented with versions of Greco-Roman classics or modern plays set in ancient times. Morerías archaeological site Museo Nacional de Arte Romano designed by Rafael Moneo Church of Santa Eulalia, dating to the 4th century but rebuilt in the 13th century, its portico reuses parts of an ancient temple of Mars. Other sights include: Cathedral of Saint Mary Major Renaissance Ayuntamiento Church of Santa Clara Gothic church of Nuestra Señora de la Antigua Baroque church of Nuestra Señora del Carmen Several notable buildings were built more including the Escuela de la Administración Pública, the Consejerías y Asamblea de Junta de Extremadura, the Agencía de la Vivienda de Extremadura, the Biblioteca del Estado, the Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones, the Factoría de Ocio y Creación Joven, the Complejo Cultural Hernán Cortés, the Ciudad Deportiva, the Universidad de Mérida, the Confederación Hidrografica del Guadiana, the Lusitania Bridge over the Guadiana River designed by Santiago Calatrava), the Palacio de Justicia, etc.
Mérida AD is the principal football team of the city, founded in 2013 as a successor to Mérida UD, which itself was a successor to CP Mérida. The last of these teams played two seasons in Spain's to
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon known as the Order of Solomon's Temple, the Knights Templar or the Templars, were a Catholic military order recognised in 1139 by the papal bull Omne datum optimum. The order was founded in 1119 and was active until 1312 when it was perpetually suppressed by Pope Clement V by the bull Vox in excelso; the Templars became a favoured charity throughout Christendom and grew in membership and power. They were prominent in Christian finance. Templar knights, in their distinctive white mantles with a red cross, were among the most skilled fighting units of the Crusades. Non-combatant members of the order, who formed as much as 90% of the order's members, managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom, developing innovative financial techniques that were an early form of banking, building its own network of nearly 1,000 commanderies and fortifications across Europe and the Holy Land, arguably forming the world's first multinational corporation.
The Templars were tied to the Crusades. Rumours about the Templars' secret initiation ceremony created distrust, King Philip IV of France – in debt to the order – took advantage of this distrust to destroy them and erase his debt. In 1307, he had many of the order's members in France arrested, tortured into giving false confessions, burned at the stake. Pope Clement V disbanded the order in 1312 under pressure from King Philip; the abrupt reduction in power of a significant group in European society gave rise to speculation and legacy through the ages. After Europeans in the First Crusade captured Jerusalem in 1099, many Christians made pilgrimages to various sacred sites in the Holy Land. Although the city of Jerusalem was secure under Christian control, the rest of Outremer was not. Bandits and marauding highwaymen preyed upon pilgrims, who were slaughtered, sometimes by the hundreds, as they attempted to make the journey from the coastline at Jaffa through to the interior of the Holy Land.
In 1119, the French knight Hugues de Payens approached King Baldwin II of Jerusalem and Warmund, Patriarch of Jerusalem, proposed creating a monastic order for the protection of these pilgrims. King Baldwin and Patriarch Warmund agreed to the request at the Council of Nablus in January 1120, the king granted the Templars a headquarters in a wing of the royal palace on the Temple Mount in the captured Al-Aqsa Mosque; the Temple Mount had a mystique because it was above what was believed to be the ruins of the Temple of Solomon. The Crusaders therefore referred to the Al-Aqsa Mosque as Solomon's Temple, from this location the new order took the name of Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, or "Templar" knights; the order, with about nine knights including Godfrey de Saint-Omer and André de Montbard, had few financial resources and relied on donations to survive. Their emblem was of two knights riding on a single horse; the impoverished status of the Templars did not last long. They had a powerful advocate in Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a leading Church figure, the French abbot responsible for the founding of the Cistercian Order of monks and a nephew of André de Montbard, one of the founding knights.
Bernard put his weight behind them and wrote persuasively on their behalf in the letter'In Praise of the New Knighthood', in 1129, at the Council of Troyes, he led a group of leading churchmen to approve and endorse the order on behalf of the church. With this formal blessing, the Templars became a favoured charity throughout Christendom, receiving money, land and noble-born sons from families who were eager to help with the fight in the Holy Land. Another major benefit came in 1139, when Pope Innocent II's papal bull Omne Datum Optimum exempted the order from obedience to local laws; this ruling meant that the Templars could pass through all borders, were not required to pay any taxes, were exempt from all authority except that of the pope. With its clear mission and ample resources, the order grew rapidly. Templars were the advance shock troops in key battles of the Crusades, as the armoured knights on their warhorses would set out to charge at the enemy, ahead of the main army bodies, in an attempt to break opposition lines.
One of their most famous victories was in 1177 during the Battle of Montgisard, where some 500 Templar knights helped several thousand infantry to defeat Saladin's army of more than 26,000 soldiers. Although the primary mission of the order was militaristic few members were combatants; the others acted in support positions to assist the knights and to manage the financial infrastructure. The Templar Order, though its members were sworn to individual poverty, was given control of wealth beyond direct donations. A nobleman, interested in participating in the Crusades might place all his assets under Templar management while he was away. Accumulating wealth in this manner throughout Christendom and the Outremer, the order in 1150 began generating letters of credit for pilgrims journeying to the Holy Land: pilgrims deposited their valuables with a local Templar preceptory before embarking, received a document indicating the value of their deposit used that document upon arrival in the Holy Land to retrieve their funds in an amount of treasure of equal value.
This innovative arrangement was an early form of banking and may have been the first formal system to support the use of cheques. Based on this mi
Mary, mother of Jesus
Mary was a 1st-century BC Galilean Jewish woman of Nazareth, the mother of Jesus, according to the New Testament and the Quran. The gospels of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament and the Quran describe Mary as a virgin; the miraculous conception took place when she was betrothed to Joseph. She accompanied Joseph to Bethlehem; the Gospel of Luke begins its account of Mary's life with the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced her divine selection to be the mother of Jesus. According to canonical gospel accounts, Mary was present at the crucifixion and is depicted as a member of the early Christian community in Jerusalem. According to Catholic and Orthodox teachings, at the end of her earthly life her body was raised directly into Heaven. Mary has been venerated since early Christianity, is considered by millions to be the most meritorious saint of the religion, she is claimed to have miraculously appeared to believers many times over the centuries. The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran churches believe that Mary, as mother of Jesus, is the Mother of God.
There is significant diversity in the Marian beliefs and devotional practices of major Christian traditions. The Catholic Church holds distinctive Marian dogmas, namely her status as the Mother of God, her Immaculate Conception, her perpetual virginity, her Assumption into heaven. Many Protestants minimize Mary's role within Christianity, basing their argument on the relative brevity of biblical references. Mary has a revered position in Islam, where one of the longer chapters of the Quran is devoted to her. Mary's name in the original manuscripts of the New Testament was based on her original Aramaic name מרים, translit. Maryam or Mariam; the English name Mary comes from the Greek Μαρία, a shortened form of Μαριάμ. Both Μαρία and Μαριάμ appear in the New Testament. In Christianity, Mary is referred to as the Virgin Mary, in accordance with the belief that she conceived Jesus miraculously through the Holy Spirit without her husband's involvement. Among her many other names and titles are the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Mary, the Mother of God, the Theotokos, Our Lady, Queen of Heaven, although the title "Queen of Heaven" was a name for a pagan goddess being worshipped during the prophet Jeremiah's lifetime.
Titles in use vary among Anglicans, Catholics, Protestants and other Christians. The three main titles for Mary used by the Orthodox are Theotokos, Aeiparthenos as confirmed in the Second Council of Constantinople in 553, Panagia. Catholics use a wide variety of titles for Mary, these titles have in turn given rise to many artistic depictions. For example, the title Our Lady of Sorrows has inspired such masterpieces as Michelangelo's Pietà; the title Theotokos was recognized at the Council of Ephesus in 431. The direct equivalents of title in Latin are Deipara and Dei Genetrix, although the phrase is more loosely translated into Latin as Mater Dei, with similar patterns for other languages used in the Latin Church. However, this same phrase in Greek, in the abbreviated form ΜΡ ΘΥ, is an indication attached to her image in Byzantine icons; the Council stated that the Church Fathers "did not hesitate to speak of the holy Virgin as the Mother of God". Some Marian titles have a direct scriptural basis.
For instance, the title "Queen Mother" has been given to Mary since she was the mother of Jesus, sometimes referred to as the "King of Kings" due to his ancestral descent from King David. Other titles have arisen from special appeals, or occasions for calling on Mary. To give a few examples, Our Lady of Good Counsel, Our Lady of Navigators, Our Lady Undoer of Knots fit this description. In Islam, she is known as mother of Isa, she is referred to by the honorific title sayyidatuna, meaning "our lady". A related term of endearment is Siddiqah, meaning "she who confirms the truth" and "she who believes sincerely completely". Another title for Mary is Qānitah, which signifies both constant submission to God and absorption in prayer and invocation in Islam, she is called "Tahira", meaning "one, purified" and representing her status as one of two humans in creation to not be touched by Satan at any point. The Gospel of Luke mentions Mary the most identifying her by name twelve times, all of these in the infancy narrative.
The Gospel of Matthew mentions her by name six times, five of these in the infancy narrative and only once outside the infancy narrative. The Gospel of Mark names her once and mentions her as Jesus' mother without naming her in 3:31 and 3:32; the Gospel of John never mentions her by name. Described as Jesus' mother, she makes two appearances, she is first seen at the wedding at Cana. The second reference, listed only in this gospel, has her standing near the cross of Jesus together with Mary Magdalene, Mary of Clopas (or Cleophas
Nazaré Funicular
The Nazaré Funicular is a funicular situated in the civil parish of Nazaré, municipality of Nazaré, in the Portuguese district of Leiria. From the description of Father Manuel de Brito Alão, the descent from Sítio to Ribeira da Pederneira was accomplished by a steep incline, of loose sand. Much of the nobility that visited the sanctuary of Nossa Senhora da Nazaré followed this road, seated on "carpets, that were pulled at the corners, along with their servants and composed"; this form of transport was used up to the 19th century. On 15 October 1888, a partnership was developed by Tavares Crespo, Francisco Morais, Joaquim Carneiro D’Alcáçovas de Sousa Chicharro, José Eduardo Ferreira Pinheiro, Barão de Kessler and engineer Raoul Mesnier du Ponsard to construct a funicular in Nazaré, with the entity seated in Lisbon. On 28 July 1889, the line was blessed and inaugurated as the funicular of Nossa Senhora da Nazaré, in honour of the Virgin Mary, protector of the town. At the event was the Ministro das Obras Públicas and the Ministro da Fazenda and Dr. António Lúcio Tavares Crespo owner of the line.
The funicular was moved by a steam-powered machine situated in the area of Sítio, where the promontory overlooking the village led onto a 50 metres tunnel and ramp. The boiler was heated by wood, since there were no fountains in Sítio, the water for the tank was transported from Praia by two cars; the funicular line, with an extension of 318 metres and 42% slope, follows a channel between the promontory and beach, terminating at the Largo das Caldeiras. The lower terminal is protected by two lateral walls to prevent the invasion of sand; the mechanism, similar to the one used in the funicular of Lavra, came from Germany from the factory of Maschinenfabrik Esslingen. The cars used a red livery and transported 60 passengers, but only during the summer beach season, with trips operating between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. In 1918, an allotment of wood was ceded to the funicular to allow it to continue to operate. On 1 October 1924, the funicular was acquired by the Real Casa dominated by the Confraria da Nossa Senhora da Nazaré, with the objective of operating for a year.
This was to facilitate ease of access by religious people to the sanctuary of Nossa Senhora da Nazaré, collect funds to maintain the Hospital de Nossa Senhora da Nazaré. In 1931, a report to the Minister requested authorization to sell to the funicular to the municipal council, along with the electrical station. On 19 December of the same year, the funicular was sold to the municipal council of Nazaré for $398,013.00. On 15 February 1963, there was an accident, caused by the rupture of the cable that resulted in the death of two people, injury to 50 others; the incident went to trial. But, the funicular service was not reopened until 1 April 1968. In September 2001, the funicular was closed to complete repairs and modernize its cars, at a cost of 1.5 million Euros. The project included repair to the chassis structure, repairs to the architecture and functioning of the stations, as well as the substitution of the carriages, it was reopened on 24 June 2002, began operating with a 15-minute turnaround.
The funicular is situated in an urban context and implanted in an accented promontory, with a 42% slope, connecting the settlements of Praia and Sítio, providing notable view of Nazaré. The terminals are adapted to the slopes of their respective gradients; the system includes two cars, linked by a subterranean cable, that ascend and descend along the line. At the beginning and end terminals, the lines are singular, but split-off along the descent/ascent, allowing parallel transit along the middle of the course; the main cable travels along the line powered by electricity. Each carriage is painted blue, includes three interior compartments and three access doors with the extreme ends occupied by the driving sections; the central area is occupied by eight lines of bunks oriented longitudinally and four bunks transversally. Over the entrance to the terminal tunnel at Sítio is a panel of azulejo tile, in blue and white, with the representation of the funicular and marble plaque with the inscription: Centenário do Ascensor / da Nazaré / 1889 - 1989 / 28 de Julho de 1989 Century anniversary of the funicular / of Nazaré / 1889 - 1989 / 28 July 1989In the tunnel is another marble inscription: À MEMÓRIA / DO / DR.
ANTÓNIO L. TAVARES CRESPO / FUNDADOR DO ASCENSOR DA NAZARETH / INAUGURADO EM 28 DE JULHO DE 1889 / HOMENAGEM DOS SERVIÇOS MUNICIPAIS / 18-7-1998" ´´In memoriam / of / Dr. António L. Tavares Crespo / Founder of the Nazaré Funicular / Inaugurated on 28 July 1889In the vestibulo of the terminal, is a bronze low relief, flanked by two inscriptions: SERVIÇOS MUNICIPALIZADOS DA CÂMARA MUNICIPAL DA NAZARÉ / Aos 28 dias do mês de Julho do ano de 2004, / data do 115º Aniversário do ascensor da Nazaré, / celebramos a conclusão das Obras de Recuperação e / Remodelção das Gares e Carruagens do Ascensor. / O Presidente do Conselho de Administração / dos Serviços Municipalizados da Nazaré / Eng. Jorge Codinha Antunes Barroso Municipal Services of the Municipal Council of Nazaré / On the 28 day of the month of July of the year 2004 / date of the 115th Anniversary of the funicular
John VI of Portugal
John VI, nicknamed "the Clement", was King of the United Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves from 1816 to 1825. Although the United Kingdom over which he ruled ceased to exist de facto beginning in 1822, he remained its monarch de jure between 1822 and 1825. After the recognition of the independence of Brazil under the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro of 1825, he continued as King of Portugal until his death in 1826. Under the same treaty, he became titular Emperor of Brazil for life, while his son, Pedro I of Brazil, was both de facto and de jure the monarch of the newly-independent country. Born in Lisbon in 1767, the son of Maria I and Peter III of Portugal, he was an infante of Portugal, he only became heir to the throne when his older brother José, Prince of Brazil, died of smallpox in 1788 at the age of 27. Before his accession to the Portuguese throne, John VI bore the titles Duke of Braganza and Duke of Beja, as well as Prince of Brazil. From 1799, he served as prince regent of Portugal, due to the mental illness of his mother, Queen Maria I.
In 1816, he succeeded his mother as monarch of the Portuguese Empire, with no real change in his authority, since he possessed absolute powers as regent. One of the last representatives of absolute monarchy in Europe, he lived during a turbulent period. Throughout his period of rule, major powers, such as Spain and Great Britain, continually intervened in Portuguese affairs. Forced to flee to South America across the Atlantic Ocean into Brazil when troops of the Emperor Napoleon I invaded Portugal, he found himself faced there with liberal revolts, his marriage was no less conflictual, as his wife, Carlota Joaquina of Spain conspired against her husband in favor of personal interests or those of her native Spain. He lost Brazil when his son Pedro declared independence, his other son Miguel led a rebellion that sought to depose him. According to recent scholarly research, his death may well have been caused by arsenic poisoning. Notwithstanding these tribulations he left a lasting mark in Brazil, where he helped to create numerous institutions and services that laid a foundation for national autonomy, he is considered by many historians to be a true mastermind of the modern Brazilian state.
Still, he has been viewed as a cartoonish figure in Portuguese-Brazilian history, accused of laziness, lack of political acumen and constant indecision, is portrayed as physically grotesque. João Maria José Francisco Xavier de Paula Luís António Domingos Rafael was born 13 May 1767, during the reign of his maternal grandfather and paternal uncle Joseph I of Portugal, he was the second son, paternal cousin, nephew by marriage of the future Queen Maria I, Joseph's daughter, her husband, the future King Peter III. At the time of John's birth they were Princess of Brazil and Infante of Portugal, he was ten years old when his grandfather died and his mother ascended to the throne. His childhood and youth were lived as he was a mere infante in the shadow of his elder brother José, Prince of Brazil and 14th Duke of Braganza, the heir-apparent to the throne. Folklore has John as a rather uncultured youth, but according to Jorge Pedreira e Costa, he received as rigorous an education as José did. Still, a French ambassador of the time painted him in unfavorable colors, seeing him as hesitant and dim.
The record of this period of his life is too vague for historians to form any definitive picture. Little is known of the substance of his education, he received instruction in religion, law and etiquette, would have learned history through reading the works of Duarte Nunes de Leão and João de Barros. In 1785, Henrique de Meneses, 3rd Marquis of Louriçal, arranged a marriage between John and the Infanta Carlota Joaquina of Spain, daughter of King Charles IV of Spain and Queen Maria Luisa of Parma. Like her betrothed, Carlota was a junior member of a royal family. Fearing a new Iberian Union, some in the Portuguese court viewed the marriage to a Spanish infanta unfavorably, she endured four days of testing by the Portuguese ambassadors before the marriage pact was confirmed. Because John and Carlota were related, because of the bride's youth, the marriage required a papal dispensation. After being confirmed, the marriage capitulation was signed in the throne room of the Spanish court with great pomp and with the participation of both kingdoms.
It was followed by a proxy marriage. The marriage was consummated five years later; the infanta was received at the Ducal Palace of Vila Viçosa at the beginning of May 1785, on 9 June 1785, the couple received a nuptial benediction at the palace chapel. At the same time, John's sister, the Infanta Mariana Victoria, was married to the Infante Gabriel of the Spanish royal family. An assiduous correspondence between John and Mariana at that time reveals that the absence of his sister weighed upon him and, comparing her to his young wife, he wrote, "She is smart and has a lot of judgment, whereas you have rather little, I like her a lot, but for all that I cannot love her equally." John's young bride was little given to docility, requiring at times the correction of Queen Maria herself. Furthermore, the difference in their ages made him anxious; because Carlota was so young, the marriage had not been consumm
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Portugal
listen)) is a Portuguese municipality in Oeste region and Leiria District, in historical Estremadura province of Portugal.
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