Tui, Pontevedra

Tui
Municipality
View of Tui
Flag Coat of arms
Situation of Tui within Galicia
Coordinates: 42°2′53″N 8°38′40″W / 42.04806°N 8.64444°W / 42.04806; -8.64444
Country	Spain
Autonomous Community	Galicia
Province	Pontevedra
Comarca	O Baixo Miño
Parroquias	List Areas Baldráns Caldelas de Tui Guillarei Malvas Paramos Pazos de Reis Pexegueiro Randufe Rebordáns Ribadelouro Tui
Government
• Type	Concello
• Mayor	Enrique Cabaleiro[1] (PSdeG)
Area
• Total	68.3 km2 (26.4 sq mi)
Elevation	44 m (144 ft)
Population (2009)INE
• Total	17,262
• Density	250/km2 (650/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CET (UTC+2)
Post code	36700
Area code(s)	+34 986
Website	Official website

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

Tui Cathedral

Its original local name, Tude, was mentioned by Pliny the Elder and by Ptolemy in the first century AD. It became an episcopal see no 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,^[2] 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 Pelayo Mancebo, 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.

History

From prehistoric to Roman period

The Tui area was inhabited since prehistoric times. Evidence of this are the sites found during construction of the highway Vigo-Tui, on the border with Porriño, dating from the Lower Paleolithic period which was the oldest in Galicia.

The fertile valley of the Minho and its magnificent natural conditions allowed the Tudense territory to accommodate human settlement from the earliest times. The vestiges are from the Palaeolithic period (20,000 BC) in the fluvial terraces of the river Minho and Louro and from the Neolithic period (5,000 BC) are the Carrasqueira ax or megalithic monuments (Anta - Areas). The introduction of metallurgy (4,000 BC) left testimonies like the helmet of bronze Caldelas axes (now in the Tudense Diocesan Museum) or engravings of Randufe.

Economic and productive activity

The industry in the city of Tui is gradually gaining weight, as the construction of industrial estate areas as many national and international companies have established a production facility there. Yet the industry is not more than 20% of GDP in the city.

Construction one of the fastest growing sectors of Tui, estimated at 4.2% in 2005. The trend shows an increase in residential construction, driven by the slight slowdown in the increase of the cost of living.

Politics

Notable people

• José Calvo (1893–1936), politician

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tui.