Tui, Pontevedra

Tui (Galician pronunciation: ['tuj]), in Spanish Tuy, is a town in Galicia (Spain), in the province of Pontevedra. It is located on the left bank of the Minho River, facing the Portuguese town of Valença.

It's original local name, Tude, was already mentioned by Pliny the Elder and by Ptolemy, in the first century of the common era. It became an episcopal see not later than the 6th century, during the Suevic rule, when bishop Anila went to the II Council of Braga. Later, in the Visigothic period, it briefly served as the capital of a Galician subkingdom under king Wittiza. After the campaigns of Alfonso I of Asturias (739-757) against the Moors, the town lay abandoned in the largely empty buffer zone between Moors and Christians, being later part of the "Repoblación" (repopulation) effort carried out a century later, during the reign of Ordoño I of Asturias (850-866). In the 10th century it was raided by Vikings,^[1] being abandoned and later re-established in its current location.

Today the town centre is near the Inn of San Telmo. On the top of the hill, the cathedral (11th-13th century) preserves Romanesque elements in its main vestibule, and the Gothic period in the western vestibule. The town has two museums, one dedicated to archaeology and sacred art, and the other is the diocesan museum.

Two bridges connect Tui and Valença: Tui International Bridge (known in Portugal as Valença International Bridge), completed in 1878 under the direction of Gustave Eiffel, and a modern one from the 1990s. Both countries being signatories of the Schengen Treaty, there are normally no formalities in crossing what is the busiest border-point in Northern Portugal.

The municipality of Tui is composed of 11 parishes: Randufe, Malvas, Pexegueiro, Areas, Pazos de Reis, Rebordáns, Ribadelouro, Guillarei, Paramos, Baldráns and Caldelas.

References

Twin towns

• Frómista, Spain