page_title: Caldas da Rainha
section_title: City
hierarchical_section_title: Caldas da Rainha / Attractions / City
caption_attribution_description: Parque D. Carlos I - Caldas da Rainha
context_page_description: Caldas da Rainha is a medium-sized city in western central Portugal in the historical province of Estremadura and the district of Leiria. The city serves as the seat of the larger municipality of the same name and of the Comunidade Intermunicipal do Oeste. At the 2011 census, the municipality had a population of 51,729 in an area of 255.69 square kilometres, with 30,343 residing in the city. Although the city itself lies about 10.5 kilometres inland, three of the municipality's civil parishes lie on the Atlantic Ocean. Caldas da Rainha is best known for its sulphurous hot springs and ceramic pottery.
  The settlement was founded in the 15th century by Queen Leonor, who established a hospital and a church at the site of some therapeutic hot springs. The Hospital Termal Rainha D. Leonor is the oldest purpose-built institution of its kind in the world, with five centuries of history. The city's name, often shortened to simply "Caldas", can be translated as "Queen's Hot Springs", "Queen's Spa", or "Queen's Baths".
  Caldas da Rainha is a UNESCO Creative City. It is home to many cultural institutions. The city's nine museums cover art, history, and cycling.
context_section_description: Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Pópulo (Church of Our Lady of the Populace), adjacent to the thermal hospital, is a late gothic church with Mudéjar and Manueline characteristics. It serves as the mother church (igreja matriz) of Caldas. It was built c. 1500 by order of Queen Leonor and designed by Mateus Fernandes. The church was declared a national monument (monumento nacional) in 1910. Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Conceição (Church of Our Lady of the Conception) is a 20th-century church located on Praça 25 de Abril, near the city hall and the courthouse, and surrounded on three sides by Hemiciclo João Paulo II (John Paul II Semicircle). The Cardinal–Patriarch of Lisbon broke ground on 20 August 1950, and the church was inaugurated on 21 October 1951.
  Ermida de São Sebastião (Hermitage of Saint Sebastian) is a mannerist and baroque 16th-century chapel located just off Praça da República. An 18th-century reconstruction added tiles about depicting the life of the chapel's namesake saint. The chapel was declared a property of public interest (imóvel de interesse público, IIP) in 1984. Ermida do Espírito Santo (Hermitage of the Holy Spirit) is a mannerist and baroque chapel located on Largo João de Deus, uphill from the thermal hospital. Originally built in the 16th century, the hermitage was rebuilt in the 18th century. The chapel was declared a property of public interest in 1984.
  Praça da República (Republic Square) is a public square in the centre of town. The plaza, popularly known as Praça da Fruta (Fruit Square), hosts Portugal's only daily outdoor farmers' market. The square is surrounded by buildings, most containing shops, banks, and cafés on the ground floor. Built 1747–1750 on the northern side of the square, the baroque former city hall (paços do concelho), now used by the junta de freguesia (civil parish council) of the União das Freguesias de Caldas da Rainha — Nossa Senhora do Pópulo, Coto e São Gregório, was declared a property of public interest in 1984. Praça 5 de Outubro (5 October Square), also known as Antiga Praça do Peixe (Old Fish Square), formerly hosted the city's open-air fish market, which has since moved to an indoor location (Mercado do Peixe). The plaza is now used for outdoor café seating and free cultural events. A statue of Queen Leonor stands in the middle of the roundabout at Largo Conde de Fontalva (Count of Fontalva Square), popularly called Largo da Rainha (Queen's Square).
  The Parque D. Carlos I is a large park in the centre of town. The park contains a doughnut-shaped lake with a small island in the middle. Visitors can rent rowboats on the lake. The José Malhoa Museum sits in the middle of the park. The Jardim da Água (Water Garden) is a large-scale outdoor sculpture combining concrete, ceramic tiles, and water. Caldas has three mid-18th-century baroque fountains which were declared properties of public interest in 1982: Chafariz da Estrada da Foz (Fountain of Foz do Arelho Road), Chafariz da Rua Nova (Fountain of the New Street), and Chafariz das Cinco Bicas (Fountain of the Five Spouts).
caption: Pavilhões do Parque in Parque D. Carlos I
exif: {"Image DocumentName": "", "Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-P10", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image PageName": "", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "", "Image DateTime": "", "Image Artist": "", "Image HostComputer": "", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ReferenceBlackWhite": "[0, 255, 128, 255, 128, 255]", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "328", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSSatellites": "", "GPS GPSMapDatum": "", "Image GPSInfo": "666", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF SpectralSensitivity": "", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF OECF": "0", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0200", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2005:11:22 14:34:03", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, compulsory flash mode, return light not detected", "EXIF FocalLength": "79/10", "EXIF SubSecTime": "", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5106", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3828", "EXIF SpatialFrequencyResponse": "0", "EXIF FileSource": "0", "EXIF SceneType": "0", "EXIF CVAPattern": "0"}