A castle, a cathedral and a working winery: these are Portugal's new seven wonders
Leiria Castle, Lisbon Cathedral, the Roman ruins of São Cucufate, the Usseira Aqueduct, the Olhão markets, the Tiago Cabaço Winery and the bishop's palace garden in Castelo Branco won the seven categories in Sintra on Saturday night. Nothing north of Leiria made the list.
Portugal has seven new wonders. Where they are turns out to be as interesting as what they are.
The public vote closed on Saturday night at the National Palace of Sintra. Leiria Castle took the Castles category and Lisbon Cathedral won Religion. The Roman ruins of São Cucufate, at Vila de Frades in the Vidigueira district, won History, and the Usseira Aqueduct in Óbidos took Great Works. The Olhão markets carry the 20th Century category. The Tiago Cabaço Winery in Estremoz, a working wine producer, won the 21st Century. And the garden of the Episcopal Palace in Castelo Branco closed the list under Tourism.
Twenty-one finalists reached Sintra, three per category, after a run that began with more than six hundred entries and passed through regional finals in Amarante, Anadia, Santarém and on the island of Faial, among others. The public decided it, and each vote cost a euro plus VAT, by phone or through the broadcaster’s app, with every stage externally audited.
The map only goes one way
Leiria. Óbidos. Vidigueira. Lisbon. Olhão. Estremoz. Castelo Branco. Put the seven on a map and not one of them sits north of Leiria.
By region that is three in the Centro, two in the Alentejo, one in Lisbon and one in the Algarve. The north held its regional final in Amarante and put nothing into the final list. The Azores and Madeira ran their own semi-finals and also finished empty-handed.
That is not a verdict on the heritage of the Minho, the Douro or Trás-os-Montes, and it is worth saying so plainly. In a contest settled by paid votes, the result measures mobilisation as much as masonry. It counts how many people a town hall, a parish or a local association managed to get dialling during the broadcast. Leiria campaigned for weeks. So did Olhão, whose twin 1916 market halls sit right on the lagoon.
It is also worth noticing what the list rewarded. Two of the seven are living, recent buildings: a winery that still makes wine, and a pair of municipal markets where fish is still sold most mornings. The other five are classical heritage, from Roman to gothic. The organisers have not yet put up an official winners page — as we write, the contest site still shows only the candidates — but the full list of the 147 sites that were in the running is there, and it is a decent travel planner for anyone who would like to disagree with the outcome in person.
The first edition of the contest was held on 7 July 2007. Nineteen years on, the country voted again, and picked a map considerably shorter than its own territory.
By Lucy Bennett
Photo: Joseolgon / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
