The parish of Albergaria-a-Velha e Valmaior is located in the municipality of Albergaria-a-Velha, in the district of Aveiro, and serves as the seat of the municipality. It covers 47 km² and has 11,058 inhabitants (2021 census). It was created on 28 January 2013, as part of the national administrative reform, through the merger of the former parishes of Albergaria-a-Velha, with patron saint Santa Cruz, and Valmaior, with patron saint Santa Eulália. In Valmaior you will find villages such as Açores, Rendo, Mouquim, Vila Nova de Fusos, Foz and Póvoa, and the name (formerly Valle Maior) comes from the floodplain that extends to the lower reaches of the river Caima.
history
The parish was created on 28 January 2013 (Law no. 11-A/2013), bringing together the former parishes of Albergaria-a-Velha and Valmaior, with its seat in Albergaria-a-Velha. The former parish of Albergaria-a-Velha had 8,528 inhabitants in 2011; its Igreja Matriz (Parish Church), dedicated to Santa Cruz, features gilded carved altarpieces and high altar from the 17th and 18th centuries, and there are also the chapels of São Sebastião, São Gonçalo (in Sobreiro, with tiles from the Fábrica da Biscaia) and São Marcos, as well as the Monte da Senhora do Socorro. Valmaior had 2,040 inhabitants in 2011; the Igreja Paroquial de Santa Eulália resulted from several transformations of a church that was probably built in the 17th century, and there are chapels in various places, such as the chapel of S. Martinho in Mouquim and that of Nossa Senhora da Lapa in Açôres, as well as the Mamoa de Açôres, listed in 1997.
