Guimarães - Aqui nasceu Portugal

ehk "Siin sündis Portugal" on kirjutatud selles linnas ühe iidse hoone seinale. 

Linn on väga vana, asutatud u 9. sajandil ning seda peetakse Portugali "hälliks". Alguses nimetati linna aga teise nimega - Vimaranes, Vimara Peres'i järgi, kes valis naaberriikidega sõdimise ajal selle koha oma "peakorteriks". 

Guimarães'is arvatakse olevat 1109. aastal sündinud ning 1111. aastal ristitud ka Portugali esimene kuningas Alfonso I.

Guimarães on Põhja-Portugalis asuv linn, kus on praegu pisut rohkem kui 52 000 elanikku. Linna südames asuv lummav ajalooline vanalinn on võetud UNESCO kaitse alla.

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"Portugal was born here" - it is written on a wall of an old house in Guimarães. The city of Guimarães is like no other city in Portugal. Its past is so intimately intertwined with the History of Portugal that it is commonly and proudly referred to as the Cradle of the Nation. It is settled in the 9th century at which time it was called Vimaranes*. It is thought to mean “belonging to Vimara or Guimara,” this being a Germanic name of one of the area’s first lords. 

Tradition has it that the boy who would one day be crowned the first King of Portugal in 1179 was born and baptised in Guimarães in 1111.

Guimarães is located in Northern Portugal, nowadays with just a little more than 52 000 inhabitants.

*Vímara Peres was a ninth-century Iberian nobleman and the first ruler of the County of Portugal.