The Foundation

Rainha D. Leonor (Queen Leonor)

The city of Caldas da Rainha (Queen's Hot Waters), like the name suggests was founded by a queen. Leonor, wife of King Joao II.

The construction of a Thermal Hospital and the setlement near it was her decision. One day, when going from bidos (medieval town 6 kms south of Caldas da Rainha) to Batalha (45 kms north of Caldas da Rainha), to attend mass in honour of former king Afonso V, she saw several people bathing in water banks, fumegating and with an intense smell.

To know what was that she ordered her comitive to stop and asked about it.

Told that the water had healing properties she reportadly tried the waters herself, because she suffered from angina, a tumour or another unknown disease, and it aparently cured it her later on. So in sign of thanks for this, she decided to order the building of a hospital where the poor could seek a cure.

In 1485 the Hospital, a church and houses began construction.

This marks the foundation of the settlement.

Historical Path into the Present

With the construction of the hospital the settlement began to develop. Slowly the settlement got bigger, but never too important until the 18th century, when another king, Joao V, crosses Caldas path in history.

Frequent user of its waters (he came there 13 times) the king decided to enlarge and improve the hospital, build a summer palace for himself, a town hall, as well as provide water to the population of the area.

In 1887 the train arrives here, bringing more people as well as development.

The thermalism in Portugal reaches it's peak in the ends of the 19th century, beggining of the 20th... more renovations are in order as well as the construction of a garden.

The lack of money, the death of the main architect of the project (Rodrigo Berqu) accompanied with the political changes in Portugal (in 1910 the country ceases to be a monarchy and becomes a republic) didn't allow the completion of the total project.

Some ideas are on the way to continue, one century later, what was left to do...


In 1927 reaches the statute of city.

And by this time the thermalism is already declining...

The city affirmates itself as an important regional center from trades and commerce relying lesser and lesser year after year in the importance of the thermal waters which led to its foundation.

During the II World War the city receives hundreds of jewish refugees.

As mentioned before the city and the spa are more detached and the commerce has become the main cause of development of the area. Caldas da Rainha is one of the countries middle-sized cities with some importance in the area in which is inserted, the West region.