Nazaré | |
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.jpg) Panoramic view of Nazaré and its beach | |
 Flag  Coat of arms | |
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| Coordinates:39°36′04″N9°04′14″W / 39.60111°N 9.07056°W /39.60111; -9.07056 | |
| Country |  Portugal |
| Region | Oeste e Vale do Tejo |
| Intermunic. comm. | Oeste |
| District | Leiria |
| Parishes | 3 |
| Government | |
| • President | Walter Chicharro (PS) |
| Area | |
• Total | 82.43 km2 (31.83 sq mi) |
| Population (2021)[1] | |
• Total | 14,889 |
| • Density | 180/km2 (470/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+00:00 (WET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+01:00 (WEST) |
| Local holiday | September 8 |
| Website | www.cm-nazare.pt |
Nazaré (Portuguese pronunciation:[nɐzɐˈɾɛ]ⓘ) is aPortuguese town and municipality located in theOeste region, in the historical province ofEstremadura, and in theLeiria District. The municipality has a population of 14,889 in an area of 82.43 km2,[2] while the town itself has around 10,000 inhabitants.[1]
It is one of the most popular seaside resorts in theSilver Coast (Costa de Prata).
The town of Nazaré consists of three neighbourhoods:Praia (along the beach),Sítio (an old village, on top of a cliff) andPederneira (another old village, on a hilltop).Praia andSítio are linked by theNazaré Funicular, afunicular railway.
The present mayor is Walter Chicharro, a member of theSocialist Party. The municipal holiday is on 8 September, as part of theOur Lady Of Nazaré Festival, a ten-day religious and secular celebration with processions, bullfights, fireworks, folk dancing and a fair.[3]
The nameNazaré is the Portuguese version ofNazareth, the biblical city in theHoly Land.
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The earliest settlements were in Pederneira and in Sítio, above the beach. They provided the inhabitants with refuge against raids byViking and, later,French,English andDutchpirates, that lasted until as late as the beginning of the 19th century.[4] In fact, only in the 19th century, with the gradual end of maritimepiracy, was possible for the people to start occupying thePraia which is today considered the town center.
According to theLegend of Nazaré, the town derives its name from a small wooden statue of theVirgin Mary, brought fromNazareth,Holy Land, to a monastery near the city ofMérida, Spain, by a monk in the 4th century. The statue was brought to its current location in 711 by another monk, Romano, accompanied byRoderic, the lastVisigoth king of today's Portugal. After their arrival at the seaside they decided to become hermits. Romano lived and died in a small naturalgrotto, on top of a cliff above the sea. After his death and according to his wishes, the king buried him in the grotto. Roderic left the statue of the Black Madonna in the grotto on an altar.
The first church inSítio was built over the grotto to commemorate a miraculous intervention in 1182 by the Virgin Mary, which saved the life of the 12th-century Portuguese knight Dom Fuas Roupinho (possibly atemplar) while he was hunting deer one morning in a dense fog. The episode is usually referred to as theLegend of Nazaré. In memory of the miracle he had a chapel (Capela da Memória) built over the small grotto, where the miraculous statue had been placed by kingRoderic. Beside the chapel, on a rocky outcrop 110 meters above the Atlantic, one can still see the mark made in the rock by one of the hooves of Dom Fuas' horse.[citation needed] This Church of Nazareth, high on the rocky outcrop over Pederneira Bay, was noted as a landmark in sailors' manuals.[5][6]
In 1377, KingFernando I of Portugal founded a new, more spacious church, which was totally transformed between the 16th and 19th centuries. TheSanctuary of Our Lady of Nazaré is a richbaroque building, with splendid tiles on its interior. Behind and above the main altar, visitors can see and venerate the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Nazaré. The religious figures are crowned by 18th century diadems, presented to the church by KingJohn VI. The sacred image is wrapped with a green cloak decorated with gold, gifted to the Virgin Mary by KingJohn V. The main chapel is separated from the body of the church with an arcade made frompau-santo and a few pillars decorated with mosaics in 19th century Italian marble.
The Nazarene coastline is among the most dangerous in the world with its high waves, with local fishermen that have braved them for centuries. The town’s reliance on the sea for food production and economic viability is a result of the unique climate that differs from the surrounding Mediterranean eco-zone where land-farming is more common.[7] Fishing in Nazaré is an activity carried out entirely by the village men, leaving the women to run daily life and daily governance in the town. These distinctly gendered roles and adherence to rudimentary fishing practices are widely believed to be the primary reason the town has not yet developed into a modern industrial society.[8]
The municipality of Nazaré borders theAtlantic to the west and is surrounded entirely by the municipality ofAlcobaça to the north, east and south.
Nazaré has aMediterranean climate (Köppen:Csb) with warm, dry summers and mild, wet winters. The town's climate is moderated by theAtlantic Ocean and the seasonalupwelling phenomena typical of western Portugal gives it cool to warm, dry and overall sunny summers. As a result of themarine layer,morning andeveningfogs are very frequent in the summer and can persist all day on rare occasions. The seasonaldownwelling on the other hand is most common in the winter and gives Nazaré a more unstable, Atlantic dominated weather with often overcast, rainy and stormy days, clear days, however, are not uncommon in this season. Temperatures above 30 °C (86 °F) or below 3 °C (37 °F) are very uncommon.[9] Nazaré also experiences someseasonal lag, with temperatures in September being warmer than those in June.
| Climate data for Nazaré | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 14.5 (58.1) | 14.9 (58.8) | 17.1 (62.8) | 17.8 (64.0) | 19.5 (67.1) | 21.6 (70.9) | 23.1 (73.6) | 23.4 (74.1) | 22.7 (72.9) | 20.5 (68.9) | 17.2 (63.0) | 15.0 (59.0) | 18.9 (66.1) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 10.6 (51.1) | 11.3 (52.3) | 12.7 (54.9) | 13.8 (56.8) | 15.9 (60.6) | 17.7 (63.9) | 19.2 (66.6) | 19.4 (66.9) | 18.4 (65.1) | 16.3 (61.3) | 13.5 (56.3) | 11.5 (52.7) | 15.0 (59.0) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 6.6 (43.9) | 7.7 (45.9) | 8.4 (47.1) | 9.8 (49.6) | 12.2 (54.0) | 13.9 (57.0) | 15.3 (59.5) | 15.3 (59.5) | 14.1 (57.4) | 12.1 (53.8) | 9.8 (49.6) | 8.1 (46.6) | 11.1 (52.0) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 81.7 (3.22) | 70.4 (2.77) | 45.9 (1.81) | 58.3 (2.30) | 52.3 (2.06) | 22.3 (0.88) | 9.0 (0.35) | 10.6 (0.42) | 32.2 (1.27) | 79.8 (3.14) | 91.2 (3.59) | 98.2 (3.87) | 651.9 (25.68) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 0.1 mm) | 13.7 | 13.1 | 10.4 | 12.6 | 10.2 | 6.2 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 7.2 | 12.1 | 13.0 | 14.5 | 120.6 |
| Averagerelative humidity (%) | 82 | 79 | 76 | 77 | 74 | 73 | 74 | 74 | 75 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 77 |
| Source:IPMA,[10] Portuguese Environmental Agency[11] | |||||||||||||
Administratively, the municipality is divided into 3 civil parishes (freguesias):[12]
Over the 20th century, Nazaré progressively evolved from a fishing village to a point of interest among Portuguese and international tourists,[13] advertising itself as a picturesque seaside village.
Located on theAtlantic coast, it has long sandy beaches, attracting many tourists in the summer. The town used to be known for the traditional costumes worn by the fishermen. Women traditionally wear a headscarf and flannel skirt, embroidered in seven different colours. The costumes are still worn occasionally.
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It is quite visited due to the religious festivals[14] dedicated toOur Lady of Nazaré, in which there are processions and also some profane celebrations.
Many of the tourists and Catholic pilgrims who visit Central Portugal, and especially the internationally famousSanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima (located nearby inCova da Iria), go to Nazaré for a visit or to watch the surfing championships.
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Nazaré is a popular surfing destination because of the highbreaking waves that form due to the presence of the underwaterNazaré Canyon.[16] The canyon increases and converges the incoming ocean swell which, in conjunction with the local water current, dramatically enlarges wave heights.[17]
Due to the height of the waves, numerous surfing records have been set at Nazaré. In November 2011, surferGarrett McNamara surfed a then-record-breaking giant wave measuring 23.8 m (78 ft) fromtrough to crest, atPraia do Norte, Nazaré.[18] On 8 November 2017 Brazilian surferRodrigo Koxa broke the previous record by surfing a wave of 24.4 m (80 ft).[19][20] In October 2020, German surfer Sebastian Steudtner broke this record, riding a wave which was measured at 26.2 m (86 ft).[21]
There has been a marked increase in visitors to viewing points for surfing competitions, such as the lighthouse at theFort of São Miguel Arcanjo, which has seen numbers increase from 80,000 visitors in 2015 to 174,000 in 2017.[22]
On 18 January 2018, Brazilian big-wave surferMaya Gabeira surfed a wave of 24.7 meters (74 feet).[23][24]
On 5 January 2023, Brazilian professional surfer Márcio Freire died whilst practicingtow-in surfing.[25]
Nazaré istwinned with:[26][27]
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