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Dr. José Gardete Martins
Statue of Dr. José Gardete Martins that was the founder of the modern Termas de Monfortinho.
The statue is made of bronze and is placed in a granite pedestal, in it Dr. José Gardete Martins is represented in real size from the chest up.
"Along the banks of the Erges, on the border line, it is an ancient border town that was destroyed several times in the wars of Christian reconquest at the beginning of nationality. It was a place of the vicarage of the Order of Christ of Salvaterra do Extremo, famous for its cereal production and the abundance of cattle and game. In this remote time, the pilgrimage of regional influence and invocation of Nossa Senhora da Consolação with the tradition of bodo was born, a festival related to the spring season and linked to the threat that constituted a plague of locusts by damaging the growing seedbeds. Bodo is a collective party where everyone participates, eating the specialties of the local cuisine. In the century. In the 18th century, the village had only five dwellings and 16 residents and, in 1855, with the extinction of the municipality of Salvaterra do Extremo, it was integrated into that of Idanha-a-Nova. In 1905, the Bodo festival in Monfortinho was organized independently from that of Salvaterra and was held at the Chapel of Senhor da Pedra.
It was the thermal activity that ended up giving the town an increase. The old Roman waters of Várzea da Fonte Santa were transformed into public baths in the 18th century. XVIII, by order of Infante D. Francisco, uncle of King D. José I. In the beginning of the century. XX, Dr. José Gardete Martins, a physician, founded the Companhia das Águas da Fonte Santa in 1907, which in 1935 became the Companhia das Águas das Termas de Monfortinho, under the leadership of the Count of Covilhã. This activity, which was recently reinvigorated with the restoration of old hotel units and with the improvement of Parque das Termas and the opening of the border, introduced a new dynamic linked to the predominant tourist influx in the summer season and hunting in autumn and winter.
In addition to the thermal hotel complex and new expansion areas, there is still the old village with its Mother Church and the Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Consolação, next to which the traditional Bodo festival is held."
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