Amadora

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Amadora

Municipal flag

Municipal coat of arms

Location

- Country

- Region

- Subregion

- District or A.R.

Mayor

Joaquim Raposo

- Party

Area

23.8 km²

Population

- Total

176,239

- Density

7,405/km²

No. of parishes

Coordinates

38º44'N 9º14'W

Municipal holiday

September 11

Website: http://www.cm-amadora.pt

Amadora (pron. IPA: [ɐmɐ'doɾɐ]) is a city and a municipality in Portugal, in the northwest of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. The city and municipality population is 175,872 in eleven freguesias (parishes). With an area of 23.77 km², it is the most densely populated municipality of Portugal. Amadora is a satellite city of Lisbon, one of the smallest portuguese municipalities (24 km²), but one of the most populated.

The municipality was formed on September 11, 1979, when it ceased being a parish of Oeiras municipality.

Amadora is one of the largest cities in Portugal by population. It forms a conurbation with the Portuguese capital Lisbon, and both cities share the same subway, bus and train network. It is also a major residential suburb of the capital, and the landscape is dominated by large apartment blocs and some industry. Amadora is also home to a big community of African immigrants, mostly from Angola and Cape Verde. Although major rehabilitation plans are in march, Amadora is still regarded as a city with a crime rate relatively higher than the national average, and notorious for its traffic jams.

Every year, Amadora city organizes the Amadora International Comics Festival[1].

Its flag is a typical gyronny of green over white. It includes a 5-towered mural crown, and a scroll that reads "CIDADE DA AMADORA". The shield is green, has in chef a yellowish airplane propeller and a silver windsock, then an aqueduct and below a pomegranate tree also in that yellowish colour of the propeller, with fruits with something red within.

Coat of arms

At the present time Amadora does not have any airfield. However, in the 1920s a small airfield (the 1st in Portugal) was located here. The first air-travel from Portugal to Brazil had is departure from Amadora. The Captain of the airplane was Adm. Gago Coutinho, a well known Portuguese celebrity. This justifies the airplane propeller and a silver windsock on the Amadora's flag.

The arches represent the famous Free Waters Aqueduct (Aqueduto das Águas Livres), which brings water from Sintra hills to Lisbon, stretching some 30 km through these three municipalities. It was finished in the 1770s and includes the largest masonry only arch ever built, located in Campolide — local coat of arms also displays the aqueduct (like others along its way).

The tree is a pomegranate tree, one of the Amadora symbols. One possible explanation is somewhat hard to describe in English, but it follows:

"Pomegranate" = "Romã" in Portuguese.
"Romã", read backwards is "amor" ("love" in Portuguese).
"Amadora" is "she-lover", the female that loves ("amadora" is a female noun. In Portuguese, a city usually is a female noun).