Cunha Rivara, an historian from Arraiolos, in his work Memórias da Vila de Arraiolos (Memories from the Town of Arraiolos), after referring to the nobility and ancientness of Arraiolos, as well as to some historical aspects of tis origin states”…no matter how, I’m quite sure that in the beginning of the 13th century there was already a population in the place of Arraiolos…”

It’s also sure the abundance of remains that can be related with the end of the Neolithic or even with the Calcolithic are a sign of a significant human occupation from the 4th millennium b.C. and, probably, “in the proto-History, the main habitat place would already correspond to the present elevation where the Castle of Arraiolos is placed.”

It is still Cunha Rivara who transmits us the references of the priest António de Carvalho da Costa, in the Portuguese Corography (volume 2page525) and og the priest Luís Cardoso in the Geographic Dictionary (volume 1page590) where they attribute the foundation of Arraiolos to Sabine, Tusculans and Albans, settlers who were from the city of Évora before Sertorius and gave the government of Arraiolos to the captain Rayeo, a greek name.

From this name seems to have derived the name of our town, once the name Rayeos became little by little Rayolis, Rayeopolis, Arrayolos and today Arraiolos.

However, it is in 1217 with the concession f the term of Arraiolos by the King Afonso II, to the Bishop of Évora D. Soeiro and to the chapter of the Cathedral in the same city, a new chapter of our history begins.

In 1290, Arraiolos receives the first Foral (Charter), from D. Dinis, and that monarch orders the building of the Castle in 1305, being that in the 26th of December, 1305 the Council represented by João Anes and Martim Fernades, accorded with the King the contract to its construction.

Arraiolos was D. Nuno Álvares Pereira’s county – 2nd Earl of Arraiolos from 1387. Before his retirement to the Carmo Convent in Lisbon, the Contestable of the kingdom remained here for long periods of his life.

In 1511 it receives Foral (.Charter) from D. Manuel.

Along the years were many the alterations to its territory having its administrative limits define from 1736. Meanwhile it suffered many changes:

-     Inclusion in the District of Évora (1835); Annexation to the Town Council of Vimieiro (1855); Annexation of the municipality of Mora (1895) ; Dissolution of the annexation to Mora (1898).

-     Placed in the interior of the country, in that vast region of the Alentejo, Arraiolos is today a municipality with 265 square miles, to a population of 7616 inhabitants (CEnsuses 2001)distributed by seven parishes: Arraiolos, Vimieiro, Igrejinha, S. Pedro da Gafanhoeira, Sabugueiro S. Gregório and Sta. Justa. 

ARRAIOLOS, LAND OF TAPESTRY it is still the centuries of History of hand embroidery by generations of embroiders who preserved till our times  our most genuine handicraft the Tapete de Arraiolos (Arraiolos Carpet).
The most ancient written reference known till today in the inventory of Catarina Rodrigues, the wife of João Lourenço, a builder  inhabiting the Bolelos Property, Arraiolos term, where by the year of 1598, it is described the existence of hum tapete da tera novo avalliado em dous mill Reis.
It is also sure that the archaeological excavations in the Lima de Brito square in the beginning of the 21st century under the responsibility of the archaeologist Ana Gonçalves, without calling in question a more detailed research, admonish the stating of the production of this kind of carpet to a phase previous to the 15th century.
The municipality, along with the landscape richness also possesses a vast built heritage the Town Hall has been trying to preserve and value.
From this set we detach several national monuments and other buildings, namely:
Templo Romano - Santana do Campo – Roman Temple
(Roman ruins of São João do Campo*)
Chronology: 27 3 century a.C. – Roman Temple whose ruins remained incorporated in the headboard of the Church; 15th century – Foundation of the Christian Temple, deduced from the ancient remain, patron image (ESPANCA, 1975); 1534, post - general reform of the Christian Temple; 1715 – appositive date in the lintel of the portico corresponding to an integral reform of the façade and inside.

bibliography : PREREIRA, Gabriel, Antiguidades Romanas em Èvoa e seus Arredores in Estudos Eborenses, Évora, 1891; CORREIA, Vergílio, Monumentos e Esculturas, Coimbra, 1924; ALARCÃO, Jorge, Portugal Romano, Lisboa, 1973; ESPANCA, Túlio, Inventário Artístico de Portugal-Distrito de Évora, Vol. 8, Lisboa, 1975; ALARCÃO, Jorge, Roman Portugal, London, 1988.