The old world town of Braga (altitude:185cm/607ft) in northern Portugal and situated in an extensive depression between the rivers Cávado and Este, is one of the largest towns in the country and the seat of the Primate of Portugal. It has long been an important religious center and its many churches have earned it the flattering title of the
"Portuguese Rome".
Braga is also a busy industrial town producing motor vehicles, electrical goods, leather goods and textiles.
History
The site seems to have been inhabited in prehistoric times. Later it was the Roman Bracara Augusta, chief town and military headquarters of the territory of the Callaeci Bracarii, linked by five military highways with other military posts in Lusitania. During the Great Migrations Braga became capital of the Suevic kingdom. In 716 it was occupied and devastated by the Moors. In 1040 Fernao I, the Great, recaptured the town for Castile and Christendom and at the beginning of the 12th C. it became the residence of the Portuguese kings. This was the beginning of an age of splendor, to which many buildings of the period still bear witness. When, after the great voyages of discovery, attention was increasaingly focused on the coastal ports and the sea, the power and prosperity of the town began to decline and it sank back into the role of a provincial town.
Townscape
Besides the notable number of churches, everywhere in the old town visitors will encounter fine old burghers' houses and noble mansions built of granite in an imposing style characteristic of Braga.
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