The Town Hall, together with the Pelourinho, was one of the main symbols of power of the county, set up by letter of charter of D. Dinis. From this relationship with the royal power we have the royal crown on the main door of the building. The management of the district council life was done in this place until the beginning of the XX century and the adjoining building was the old jail. During the Middle Ages, Vila Nova de Cerveira had, besides the county seat that had a group of good men elected for this purpose, a judge who, on the king`s name, led the trial of all crimes committed here.
Pelourinho is the symbol of this administrative and judiciary power. It was here that the ads and the crime sentences were read to the population and where the punishments were applied, like the stripes. The criminals were brought to the gallows, located outside the village, to the application of capital punishment.
All the castles were built on the principle that they should be able to withstand a siege, which could take from few weeks to several months. Hence, to ensure the existence of a source of clean and sustainable water was essential to any castle. In the case of Vila Nova de Cerveira it was decided to build a cistern, designed to store rainwater. It is partially cluttered nowadays and has no storage capacity.
Location: Vila Nova de Cerveira
Pelourinho is the symbol of this administrative and judiciary power. It was here that the ads and the crime sentences were read to the population and where the punishments were applied, like the stripes. The criminals were brought to the gallows, located outside the village, to the application of capital punishment.
All the castles were built on the principle that they should be able to withstand a siege, which could take from few weeks to several months. Hence, to ensure the existence of a source of clean and sustainable water was essential to any castle. In the case of Vila Nova de Cerveira it was decided to build a cistern, designed to store rainwater. It is partially cluttered nowadays and has no storage capacity.
Location: Vila Nova de Cerveira
