History

Germanelo Castle, situated in the crown of a hill, occupies a strategic position in the defence and control of one of the main entrances to the city of Coimbra.

The castle, 367 above sea level, has a wide visual field on the valley of Rabaçal, territory that medieval documents denote by Ladeia. Since the times of the Roman occupation, it was a corridor of natural circulation. Moreover, the old Roman road is still identifiable from Germanelo castle.

After the final conquest of Coimbra, in 1064, it became important to ensure the establishment of a defence system of the city founded in castle structures and Germanelo castle became part of it. In this southern ring of defence, the excessive distance between Penela and Soure castles, erected by D. Sesnando, weakened the defence of Coimbra. The construction of this castle was initiated in 1142. That same year, D. Afonso Henriques granted a charter letter to the Germanelo community in order to attract people to a border area.

The conquest of Santarém in 1147, by D. Afonso Henriques, shifted the Tejo boundary line, removing much of the strategic importance of the Germanelo fortress that had prompted its construction just five years before.

In the XX century, Salvador Dias Arnaut, professor at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Coimbra, acquired the castle ruins. It was his initiative to rebuild the line of the wall facing north, crowned by seventeen battlements. This decision was taken after a thorough study of written testimonies still in existance that was associated with geological and archaeological studies.

Archaeological excavations conducted at the site in the 1970s, particularly by José Manuel Bairrão Oleiro, located the old doors, the cistern and residential foundations located on the parade.

Today the municipality of Penela manages Germanelo castle, by following the protocol of the descendants of Prof. Dr. Salvador Dias Arnaut.


Characterization

A small enclosure, roughly triangular shaped with curved lines, Germanelo Castle has a 107 perimeter of 107 metres. The section of N. wall, much restored, presents a culmination of 18 niches. Only ruins survive, from other two sections slightly elevated above ground level. A circular pit and traces of foundations denounce the existence of buildings in the small courtyard of weapons.


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Castelo de Germanelo

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Name in English

Castle of Penela (Portuguese: Castelo de Penela, Portuguese pronunciation: [kɐʃˌtɛɫu dɨ pɨˈnɛɫɐ]) is located in a Penela town in Penela Municipality in Coimbra District, Portugal. The castle was built on a hill dominating the area and used to be a stronghold protecting Coimbra in times of Reconquista. Castle of Penela and the neighboring castle Montemor-o-Velho are both fine examples of defensive structures of that period.

The origins of the name are controversial and are attributed by some authors to ancient Celtic tribes. According to a local legend, King Afonso I (Afonso Henriques) exclaimed to incite his troops storming the stronghold: Coragem! Já estamos com o pé nela! (Courage! We have already set a foot in it!). A more plausible hypothesis is, however, that penela is a diminutive of penha, a place selected to build a fortress on.

History

It is believed that the area was already inhabited before the Roman occupation, and later a Roman watchtower was erected to oversee the nearby road connecting Mérida, Conímbriga and Braga. There is, however, no strong evidence to support this hypothesis, as well as any possible fortifications built here in times of Muslim occupation of the Iberian Peninsula.

Medieval castle

Penela's involvement in the Christian Reconquista starts with the conquest of Coimbra region by the troops of Ferdinand I of León (Fernando Magno) in 1064. In the next year the already walled settlement was granted a status of town along with four other nearby villages. The testament of count Sesnando Davides (1087), to whom the king delegated the administration of Conimbricense county, affirms that the count ruled the castle of Penela and the people in the area.

During the successive Muslim offensives in 1116 and 1117 castles Castelo de Miranda do Corvo and Castelo de Santa Eulália were conquered and destroyed, which caused the desertion of castle Castelo de Soure. These castles provided a line of defence for Coimbra region and now castle Penela was threatened. Perhaps this position was also lost, which would explain king Afonso I Henriques assaulting it in 1129, although this version is not supported by any sources. There are documents attributed to the period when a Chart of Foral was granted to the town, which reference a donation of a house inside the castle dated by 1145. This puts in question the assertion that the castle was conquered in 1148, as it is claimed by historian Frei António Brandão (Monarchia Lusitana, 1632), which is also improbable in context of the Conquest of Santarém, and Lisbon since 1147 when the line of Muslim defences was pushed to river Sado.

The castle played an important role in later periods. For instance, Afonso IV of Portugal (1325-1357) was born and died here.

During the 1383–1385 Crisis, the alcaide (commander of the castle) count Viana sided with Castile. Once as he left the castle to seek provisions, he was ambushed at the gates by commoners. As the count fell from the hill he was decapitated by one of the commoners, whom chronicler Fernão Lopes called Caspirre.

Later Pedro duke of Coimbra undertook extensive works in the castle. He ordered a construction of a ducal palace and church São Miguel. Town's gates were rebuilt as well. The town was granted a permission to hold an annual fair (since 1433) on St Michael's Day (September 29).

The castle and town later became a county with Afonso Vasconcelos e Meneses as the 1st count of Penela. Later the ownership of the castle was passed to the House of Aveiro.

From the earthquake of 1755 to the present day

By the 18th century the castle had lost its defensive value. The earthquake of 1755 destroyed the donjon tower (Clock Tower) and one of the gates. To rebuild the tower in 1760 the stone from the third gate of the castle was used. In the same century after the death of José (1750-1777) the ruling family de Aveiro became extinct.

By the beginning of the 20th century the old castle was abandoned and ruined. This was brought to the public opinion and in 1910 the castle was proclaimed a National Monument. Starting in 1940-s the castle underwent a series of restoration works under the supervision of General Direction of the Buildings and National Monuments.

Castle of Penela

Castle is located in the small town of the same name, about twenty kilometers north of the city of Pombal and, unusually, is not built on a hill, like many castles in Portugal, but on a flat terrain on the river bank ... It is believed that the castle was built to protect the monastery, which was located nearby, or the road to the city of Coimbra. Sure Castle is part of a line of defensive structures composed of other castles whose function was to protect Coimbra from enemy attacks.

Presumably the castle was built in the 11th century. However, there is a hypothesis that earlier, back in the 5th-6th centuries, there was a Roman settlement on this place, and the first building was an observation tower. The castle did not last long, and was destroyed during the battle with the Moors. A century later, the place where the castle stood, was donated to Count Fernando Perez de Trava, who was engaged in the restoration of the castle. In the 20th century, the castle was transferred to the city council of the city of Sura. Despite the rather complicated process of paperwork regarding the ownership of the castle, this architectural and historical monument has become the property of the city.

The architecture of the castle combines several styles: medieval Romanesque, Gothic and Manueline style. The facade of the Sure castle is quite simple, and the castle itself is small. At the present time, unfortunately, only ruins remain of the castle, only the walls with four towers located at the corners, a Mozarabian-style window and the Visigoth gate have survived.

Since 1949, Sure Castle has been included in the list of monuments of national importance.

In the 20th century, the castle was transferred to the city council of the city of Sura. Despite the rather complicated process of paperwork regarding the ownership of the castle, this architectural and historical monument has become the property of the city.

The architecture of the castle combines several styles: medieval Romanesque, Gothic and Manueline style. The facade of the Sure castle is quite simple, and the castle itself is small. At the present time, unfortunately, only ruins remain of the castle, only the walls with four towers located at the corners, a Mozarabian-style window and the Visigoth gate have survived.

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Castelo de Soure

The palace was commissioned towards the end of the XVIII century by an obscure supreme court judge (desembargador) named Bernardo Salazar d'Eça e Alarcão. Construction concluded in 1818. A daughter of the judge, Maria da Piedade de Mello Sampaio Salazar was given the title of Viscondessa de Espinhal in 1868. The palace was converted into a hotel in 2005, with the addition of new wings not visible from the street and a pool in the garden. Sometimes called Casa da Viscondessa de Espinhal or Palácio dos Viscondes de Espinhal, it is now mostly known as the Hotel Palácio da Lousã.
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Salazar Palace

The Castle of Lousã (Portuguese: Castelo da Lousã), also known as the Castle of Arouce (Portuguese: Castelo de Arouce), is a classified National Monument situated 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the civil parish of Lousã e Vilarinho, municipality of Lousã. It was constructed in the second-half of the 11th century, on the right margin of the River Arouce.

History

In 1080, count Sisnando Davides occupied the settlement of Lousã peacefully (but was later reoccupied by the Moors). The castle was part of the first defensive lines constructed to protect the access-ways to Coimbra, during the count's stewardship, during the second-half of the 11th century. The smaller perimeter of the military structure corresponded to this early period, with later expansions associated with the early middle ages.

It was in 1124, when the Moorish garrison fell and the castle was re-occupied by the forces of D. Teresa, who completed reparation of the defenses. Eventually, the royal court of Queen D. Mafalda would spend her summers in the settlement and castle.

During the early years of the Portuguese monarchy, the region occupied an important position owing to its frontier status. In 1124, Moorish incursions were responsible for taking the castle. In 1151, a foral was issued by D. Afonso Henriques, owing to its military importance: during the 12th century, there were several raids by Moors across the valley of Zêzere. By that time, Lousã was no longer a frontier town, owing to the conquest of Santarém, Lisbon and Palmela in 1147. During this time, the kingdom had a policy of settlement that attempted to fix and stabilize the Portuguese population centers and promote further occupation of the land.

The keep tower was constructed during the 14th Century.

A new foral was issued in 1513 by King D. Manuel. As its military role ceased to be important, the castle fell into disuse.

Until 1759, the signeurial rights to the region were maintained by the Dukes of Aveiro, but were transferred back to the Crown.

Between the 1940s and 1960s, the DGEMN Direção-Geral dos Edifícios e Monumentos Nacionais (Directorate-General for the Buildings and National Monuments) promoted substantial remodeling to reinforce the structure. Rights to the castle and land were ceded to the municipality on 10 August 1957; on 27 April 2019, the re-qualified castle was inaugurated, later to include a newly constructed viewpoint and visitors' center.

Architecture

The small castle with irregular, hexagonal plan encircles a small courtyard. It is dominated in the north by a keep tower, that is addorsed to the wall, consisting of a rectangular structure with ogival doorway at the level of the chemin de ronde covered in arrowslits. Chamfered merlons terminate the supper part of the structure.

The main entrance is located in the southeast corner and is protected by two semi-cylindrical corbels. An elongated corbel is located to the southwest, while two smaller corbels are situated in the west of the castle, that complete the defensive structures along the walls that are completed with chamfered merlons, similar to those in the keep tower.

Castle of Lousã

The National Museum Machado de Castro (Museu Nacional de Machado de Castro) is an art museum in Coimbra, Portugal, named after the renowned Portuguese sculptor Joaquim Machado de Castro. It first opened in 1913 and its latest renovation (2004-2012), which included the addition of a new building, was awarded the Piranesi/Prix de Rome Prize 2014.
Museum's history
The Machado de Castro Museum is one of the most important art museums in Portugal. It is housed in the former Bishop's Palace. This palace was built from the Middle Ages onwards roughly on the site where the Roman forum of Aeminium (Coimbra's Roman name) once stood. The remains of this distant past, the Cryptoporticus, can be visited on the lower floors of the museum.
Collections
The bulk of the museum's collection is made up of items from churches and religious institutions in the area surrounding Coimbra. The collections of sculpture (the 

Machado de Castro National Museum

The Castle of Pombal (Portuguese: Castelo de Pombal), is a medieval castle in the civil parish of Pombal, municipality of the same name in the district of Leiria in the Centre region of Portugal.

History

Around 1128, the Castle of Pombal, site of a former Roman castro and Arab fortress, was donated to the Knights Templar by Afonso Henriques in order to defend Coimbra, and which included a vast territory of land. The transfer of its control at this time, was seen as an important military position, owing to its successive generations of fortification and disputes between Christian and Muslim forces.

The construction of the Romanesque fortress began in the middle of the 12th century (in either 1155 or 1156), and continued practically until the century's end; the construction of various towers was made to serve, stabilize and reinforce the wall, and help to repopulate the town. It is likely that work started on the encirclement of the position and later to the construction of the keep (around 1171), and includes an alambor, a defensive feature to mitigate attacks close to the walls.

In 1171, the keep was constructed in the castle courtyard; during this period of the passive Reconquista, the keep served as the last defensive bastion, acting as the Lord lieutenants personal stronghold. At the conclusion of the project an inscription was carved over the door to the keep, something promoted by D. Gualdim Pais in the medieval period, while in 1353, the castle and village were donated to the Order of Christ. The plaque was later removed and deposited in the Convent of Christ in Tomar Municipality, on request of Prince Henry the Navigator (between 1420 and 1460).

Little changed during the early Middle Ages to the Romanesque fortification, and only re-thinking of its battlements were identified in the reign of Manuel I of Portugal, which included the definition of the barbican and reinforcement of the medieval walls.

A similar reconstruction of the Church of Santa Maria do Castelo began in 1560, under the alcalde Pedro de Sousa Ribeiro, an antecedent of the Count of Castelo-Melhor, who held the governorship since the reign of Afonso V until 1834.

The castle lost its military importance during the modern era, and was attacked by French forces during the Napoleonic Peninsular War. French troops commanded by General Ney caused sevre damage to the castle during the peninsular invasion in 1811. The following year, the baptismal fountain was transferred from the Church of Santa Maria do Castelo to the Church of São Martinho. Although partially restored in the 20th century, most of the settlement began to concentrate along the flanks of the hilltop or lowlands.

In 1923, a formal request was sent by the Municipal Council of Pombal to the Ministry of War (Portuguese: Ministério da Guerra) soliciting the transfer of the Castle to their authority. The following year, on 7 December 1924, the castle was given by the same ministry to the Núcleo da União dos Amigos dos Monumentos da Ordem de Cristo em Pombal do Castelo. The transfer included land in the village and ancillary terrains, that constituted Military Camp No.1: "in the municipal square the transfer of the ruins of the castle to the Núcleo, demarcated by 32 stone markers, numbered successively from the north to south, from the east, and numbered with the abbreviations M.G....To the Núcleo went the responsibility to conserve and guard the property, with the assistance of the Ministry of War, when necessary; the concession and title was free, with indefinite time limit, while property remained in the hands of the Ministry; the Núcleo was forbidden to perform whatsoever remodelling, even recuperations that involved demolish or new constructions in masonry, or movements of land in the esplanades, without a written license from the Ministry of War". This contract persisted until 1931, when the Núcleu was dissolved: the concession was transferred to the Comissão de Iniciativa e Turismo de Pombal (Pombal Commission for Initiatives and Turismo).

In the years preceding the Portuguese World Exposition in 1940, there were several initiatives to restore or recuperate the site. In 1933, a request to construction a roadway to connect the Castle to Pombal, which was authorized and registered by the Ministry of War. A similar request was sent to the Ministry in 1934, that proposed the planting of trees and landscaping, which was approved by the executive commission of the Municipal Council and authorized by the Conselho Superior de Belas Artes.

In 1936, the stone masonry was repaired and the walls were reconstructed to match those that existed. Similarly, in 1937, more repairs were completed on the walls, including the corners, chemin de ronde, parapets in the southern facade; reconstruction of the stoneworks, chemin de ronde, vaulted arches on the southern and western facade; construction of the roof frame in the keep; construction of pavements and staircase, between the floors of the keep; replacement of the exterior gates; and excavations in the military square. This continued into 1938 with the reconstruction of walls to a state comparable to its original construction; the complete reconstruction of the southern barbican, including the consolidation of the crenelations, battlements and staircases to better resemble its original state.

On 13 April 1939, the Castle was transferred to the Ministry of Finances (Portuguese: Ministério das Finanças). By the time of its transfer, the castle was in a state of ruin, and included an ancillary terrain, covering 25,537 square metres (274,880 sq ft), at the time equivalent to 200.000$00escudos. The castle included walls and barbicans, as well as the main tower/keep, marked by a public road to the north.

The site was only electrified in 1956, while "festive" lighting was installed in 1959, by the Serviços dos Monumentos Nacionais (National Monument Services), in collaboration with the Municipal Council.

The exterior and interior walls were cleaned in 1970, with cement reinforcement of the chemin de ronde, reinforcement of the joints and repairs to the main gate. Likewise, around 1975, the pavement and coverings in the keep were redone, including access stairs; repairs to the second-floor staircase and the construction of a protective covering; the second and third-floors were re-tiled; while the main floor and main gate were cleaned and repaired.

Around 2000-2001, the keep was reassessed with repairs undertaken. In 2004, the Municipal Council of Pombal presented a project to requalify and revalorize the Castle and its grounds, which at the time was being studied by the IPPAR Instituto Português do Património Arquitectónico (Portuguese Institute for Architectural Patrimony). Comparably, in 2005, the main keep was converted into a museum. In November, of the same year, a risk assessment for the castle was undertaken by the DGEMN Direcção Geral dos Edifícios e Monumentos Nacionais (General-Directorate for Buildings and National Monuments).

Architecture

The rural castle is located on an elevated hilltop overlooking the town of Pombal, on the right margin of the River Arunca. Alongside its accessway is also located the town's main cemetery.

The structure, in the form of a shield, is encircled by walls and chemin de ronde, broken by prismatic merlons and reinforced at its vertices and regular intervals by rectangular cubels. The principal wall is broken by two arched doors: one to the southeast between towers, and another larger door to the northwest, surmounted by a royal coat-of-arms, between armillary sphere and Christian cross.

The keep tower is a rectangular two-storey structure above a sloping base, close to the southeast gate. This dungeon was later transformed into an exhibition hall for the castle. In the castle courtyard are the visible foundations of other dependencies, as well as the holes of the cistern.

Along the southwest wall, is a double window, with which is a sculpted stone coat-of-arms of the Sousa Ribeiro clan, historical alcaldes of the castle. In front of the southeast gate, to the northwest, are the vestiges of the barbican.

Outside the exterior walls, on a lower terrace on the mountain-top, are the ruins of a second series of walls, with three rectangular towers and a chapel of the Church of Santa Maria do Castelo. The chapel is dressed in square stone, decorated in the Renaissance-style of the period. Observable in one the fragments of the grave-stones of the chapel is the 35-×-75-×-17-metre (115 × 246 × 56 ft) limestone inscription dedicating the grave to Sebastião de Almeida. Of the Renaissance retables originally located in the Church, produced by João de Ruão and Jácome de Bruges, one was relocated to the Church of São Martinho, while another to the Church of the Cardal.