GUIMARAES (sometimes written Guimaraens)  , a town of northern Portugal, in the district of Braga, formerly included in the province of Entre-Minho-e-Douro; 36 m . N.E. of Oporto by the Trofa-Guimaraes branch of the Oporto-Corunna railway . Pop . (1900) 9104 . Guimaraes is a very ancient town with Moorish fortifications; and even the quarters which are locally described as " new " date partly from the 15th century . It occupies a low hill, skirted on the north-west by a small tributary of the river Ave . The citadel, founded in the 1th century by Count Henry of Burgundy, was in 1094 the birthplace of his son Alphonso, the first king of Portugal . The font in which Alphonso was baptized is preserved, among other interesting relics, in the collegiate church of Santa Maria da Oliveira, " St Mary of the Olive," a Romanesque building of the 14th century, which occupies the site of an older foundation . This church owes its name to the legend that the Visigothic king Wamba (672-68o) here declined the crown of Spain, until his olive wood spear-shaft blossomed as a sign that he should consent . The convent of Sao Domingos, now a museum of antiquities, has a fine 12th-13th century cloister; the town hall is built in the blend of Moorish and Gothic architecture known as Manoelline . Guimaraes has a flourishing trade in wine and farm produce; it also manufactures cutlery, linen, leather and preserved fruits . Near the town are Citania, the ruins of a prehistoric Iberian city, and the hot sulphurous springs of Taipas, frequented since the 4th century, when Guimaraes itself was founded .