Pinhel Castle, the guardian of one of the oldest towns in the country, is a fine example of Portugal's unique Manueline architecture.

Surrounded by walls and rivers, and lying at the heart of a system of fortifications that included the castles of Trancoso, Marialva and Castelo Mendo, Pinhel was one of the most advanced strongholds in this part of Portugal until the 13th century.

The robust walls, with their six gates and two towers, were built in 1385. On the northern side, be sure to see the beautiful Manueline window, which illuminates a vaulted hall topped by one of the symbols of D. Manuel I’s power, the armillary sphere. During the French invasions in 1810 meanwhile, the castle and the town were occupied by General Loisson.

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Castle of Pinhel

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The Castle of Castelo Rodrigo (Portuguese: Castelo de Castelo Rodrigo) is a medieval castle in the civil parish of Castelo Rodrigo in the municipality of Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo, district of Guarda.

History

It is believed that the castle was founded in VI century based on legends. After the village was conquered by Alfonso IX of León, he ordered to build the castle and reinforce the defensive line. The name of the village, as well as the castle comes from the name of the Count Rodrigo Gonzalez de Girón who was responsible for the defense of the castle. The Castelo Rodrigo was incorporated into the Kingdom of Portugal in 1297 with the Treaty of Alcañices between King Denis of Portugal and King Fernando IV of Castile.

The fortress and walled fence were rebuilt, and 13 turrets, Menagem Tower (keep), a barbican and moats were constructed by D.Denis in the XIV century.

It has been listed as a National monument since 1922.

Architecture

The configuration of the castle surrounding the village is oval. Existing sections of wall have attached constructions, with the exception in North and East sides. In the West and South sides of the castle there are towers or turrets in circular shape of which 4 are still standing with their collapsed tops.

On the East there is a quadrangular ledge, and on the North there is a partially crumbled square-shaped tower. Three doors are remaining: the Door of the Sun (turned to the East), The Door of the Alverca (turned to the North) and the Door of Betrayal.

Castle of Castelo Rodrigo

Castle Fortress of Almeida

Fortress of Almeida 

O Castelo de Marialva, na Beira Alta, localiza-se na vila de Marialva, Freguesia e Concelho de Mêda, Distrito da Guarda, em Portugal.

No topo de um penedo granítico, em posição dominante sobre a vila e a planície cortada pela antiga estrada romana, encontra-se estrategicamente colocado na região fronteiriça do rio Côa (Ribacôa). Verdadeiro complexo medieval, suas raízes mergulham no passado histórico de Portugal, ligando-se ao trágico destino dos Távoras.

História

Antecedentes

Embora carecendo de maiores estudos acredita-se que a primitiva ocupação humana deste sítio remonte a um castro dos Aravaros, uma das várias tribos em que se dividiam os Lusitanos (não confundir com Ávaros, povo que só viria a surgir na Era Cristã e nunca pisou solo português). Após a Invasão romana da Península Ibérica, sob o reinado dos imperadores Adriano e Trajano novas obras terão ampliado a povoação que se constituiu em cidade, denominada nos primeiros séculos da Era Cristã como Civitas Aravorum. Dominando a antiga estrada romana que ligava Celorico da Beira ao Douro, a urbe se espraiava das faldas da elevação à planície circundante, conforme o testemunho de restos de construções e da documentação epigráfica resgatadas arqueológicamente do subsolo da Devesa.

Ocupada sucessivamente por Visigodos (que a denominaram como Castro de São Justo), e por Muçulmanos, a povoação entrou em decadência nos séculos seguintes.

À época da Reconquista cristã da península, foi tomada aos mouros por Fernando Magno (1063), admitindo-se que existisse uma fortificação à época.

O castelo medieval

D. Afonso Henriques (1112-1185) encontrou a povoação abandonada. Para incentivar o seu repovoamento e defesa, passou-lhe Carta de Foral, garantindo privilégios não só aqueles que por iniciativa régia ali se estabeleciam na ocasião, mas a todos os que assim o fizessem no futuro. Embora esse documento não apresente data, acredita-se que tenha sido passado posteriormente a 1158, admitindo-se a data de (1179). Acredita-se que a primitiva feição de seu castelo remonte a esta fase, a partir da observação das características construtivas do aparelho da muralha e de uma das torres.

Na transição para o século XIII, o rei D. Sancho I (1185-1211) prosseguiu as obras de edificação do castelo, ampliando-lhe os muros que passaram a envolver a vila. O seu filho e sucessor, D. Afonso II (1211-1223), confirmou-lhe o foral (1217).

Em 1296 D. Dinis (1279-1325) partiu de Castelo Rodrigo à invasão de Castela, reivindicando as terras além do Côa, que efetivamente vieram a ser incorporadas a Portugal pelo Tratado de Alcanizes (1297). Nesse contexto, Marialva incluía-se no rol das povoações atendidas por aquele monarca, e assim lhe foi procedida a reconstrução do castelo. Este soberano instituiu, em 1286, a feira mensal de três dias, oferecendo privilégios a quem ali praticasse o comércio, visando o mesmo objetivo de incentivo ao povoamento. À época, a vila já se espalhava extramuros, na direção Norte.

Quando da crise de 1383-1385, Marialva e seu castelo tomaram o partido do Mestre de Avis.

No século XV, D. Afonso V (1438-1481) concedeu-lhe o título de condado tendo D. Vasco Fernandes Coutinho recebido o título de conde de Marialva (1440).

No século XVI várias intervenções foram promovidas: por D. Manuel I (1495-1521), que passou o Foral Novo à vila (1515), pelo Infante D. Fernando (irmão de D. João III (1521-1557) e marido de D. Guiomar Coutinho, filha do último conde de Marialva), e por D. Sebastião ainda sob a regência de D. Catarina d'Áustria (1557-1562). Desta última intervenção é testemunha a data de 1559, inscrita na muralha.

A época da Restauração

À época da Restauração da independência portuguesa, o antigo castelo sofreu nova campanha de obras, quando um baluarte foi adossado aos muros. Nesse período, D. Afonso VI (1656-1667) elevou a vila à condição de marquesado, cujo título foi concedido a António Luís de Meneses, nomeado conde de Cantanhede em reconhecimento pelos serviços prestados na Guerra da Restauração, em particular em Elvas e em Montes Claros.

Os Távoras e a decadência

As "Memórias Paroquiais de 1758" referem que, no início do século XVIII, as muralhas, as quatro torres e as quatro portas, se encontravam em perfeito estado. Entretanto, na segunda metade do mesmo século a situação se inverteu: a tentativa de regicídio contra D. José I (1750-1777), em 1758, causou profundas repercussões na vila de Marialva, uma vez que era seu alcaide à época, o marquês de Távora, um dos principais implicados no atentado. A partir do sentenciamento da família em Lisboa, no ano seguinte, a população da vila passou a abandoná-la, resumindo-se os seus moradores à área extramuros dos arrabaldes a Oeste e da Devesa, no sopé da encosta a Sul hoje o local mais desenvolvido de Marialva.

A recuperação do monumento

Apenas no final do século XX é que este conjunto arquitetónico despertou o interesse público, tendo sido classificado como Monumento Nacional através do Decreto de 12 de Setembro de 1978. A formalização de um protocolo entre o IPPC e a Câmara Municipal de Meda (1986), possibilitou a realização de obras de recuperação e beneficiação no conjunto monumental.

Castelo de Marialva

The Castle of Castelo Bom (Portuguese: Castelo de Castelo Bom), is a medieval castle in the civil parish of Castelo Bom, municipality of the Almeida in the district of Guarda in the Centre region of Portugal.

History

Archaeological vestiges dating from the Bronze Age suggest that a castro existed on the site. Specifically, the archaeologists identified a pistiliforme sword, dating the late Bronze Age, found on the locale (but later transferred to the Museum of Guarda).

Castelo Bom was part of an area of disputed lands between Portugal and the Kingdom of León between the 12th and 13th century. During this period, Castelo Bom was in the advance guard against León, resulting in its early medieval plan. During the 12th century, it was occupied and operated by the León, but the settlement was conquered in 1282 by Portuguese King D. Dinis, who immediately ordered it structural reinforcement. The same king conceded to the region a Foral (charter) in 1296, and it was integrated in to the Kingdom of Portugal as a result of the Treaty of Alcanices.

Between the 13th and 14 century, the castle was reconstructed, along with the wall fortifications. By 1496, the formal institutional Inquirição (Inquiries), noted the existence of a population of 234.

In the 16th century, Francisco de Anzinho and Garcia Fernandes worked at the castle to refortify the installation. Designs by Duarte de Armas, in his Book of Fortresses (1509) for the castle drew the castle annexed to the southern extremity of the town walls. These drawings included the castle and barbican, both of an irregular plan. The castle was crowned by merlons and encircled by adarve, but with a western rectangular tower keep (covered in tiled roof) adorsed to a central courtyard, earthen works, a cistern, a shaded house and other dependencies. In the east, is a similar rectangular tower with "dungeon" and in the north, a rectangular tower beside the gate: both towers were in states of ruin. The barbican, with adarve, merlons and cruciform slits, included a circular tower in the south and minor rectangular tower in the north, flanked by a door (and a complimentary false door in the east). The fortifications consisted of a double line of walls with steps in the west and doors: rectangular doors to the exterior and rounded doors to the interior. The interior doors were surmounted by covered balcony with machicolations. Both lines of walls included Chemin de rondes and crowned by parallepetical and pyramidal merlons in the northeast, over a rectangular tower covered in partially-ruined pyramidal merlons facing the interior. Within the walls the urban agglomeration consisted of single-family homes overlooking a church with bell-tower in the south, while in the southwest and southeast were smaller chapels. To the south, the castle was in viewing distance of the castles of Almeida and Castelo Rodrigo.

In 1510, King D. Manuel I renewed the foral, and ordered the repair of the castle and fortifications. But, these works did not begin until 1512, under the direction of João Ortega, from Penamacor, and mason Pero Fernandes, with overseer Rui de Andrade, who was discharged by the King. The medieval Numeramento, carried out in 1527, identified a population of just under 396.

In the 17th century, the Viscount of Vila Nova de Cerveira and Marquesses of Ponte de Lima, was appointed alcalde-mor, who installed two artillery-pieces and constructed a bastion tower with vaulted space occupied by a jail. During the Restoration Wars, it was an important frontier defense and served as a shelter for the Governors of Beira, when the cisterns (the Poços de El-Re and Poços da Escada). It was mentioned in the 1758 Memórias Paroquiais.

The town and castle began its progressive decline in 1762, when the town was encircled and overrun.  J. Almeida referred to the existence of watchtower in the Cabeço da Medronheira, dating to the 18th century, but where no vestiges exist. By the second decade of the 19th century, the French invasion of the peninsula resulted in the destruction of the castle, and the revision of the administrative authority resulted in the extinction of the municipality of Castelo Bom (in 1834). The castle's defensive structures progressively fell into ruin.

By the 1950s, the keep tower remained intact, but the descendant of its original owners wanted to construct a court for donkeys (F. Keil do Amaral).

The castle was already in ruin and partially buried by 1987, when a study was elaborated by the Direcção Geral dos Edifícios e Monumentos Nacionais (DGMEN) in order to recuperate the urban centre and the castle architecture. Work on the site began, innocuously with the clearing of the village gate in 1940s, but proceeded to more elaborate consolidation of the cistern and the area around the resource by 1966. In order to attract more tourists to the site, a overlook was constructed in 1999 (in the north). Work to rehabilitate the facades of the historic centre were initiated at the same time, as part of the Aldeias Preservadas project, between the local government and the building's property-owners.

Architecture

The castle, implanted at the top of a 725 metres (2,379 ft) hilltop and its walled fortifications encircling the settlement. Overlooking the Rio Côa, the cliffs of its flanks are without buildings, except along the southeastern roadway. It is relatively close to the castles of Almeida and Castelo Mendo.

The irregular plan is almost rectangular, and includes a similarly irregular barbican with a curved face along the settlement wall (today incomplete), a sequence of almost continuous walls along the east and the flanks of the northwest and northeast. These final walls are missing merlons and various discontinuities, with various buildings addorsed to its walls. Some of these buildings also include stonework that could have been reused from the wall. The Town Gate consists of a curvilinear exterior and simple arch, with uneven pavement under a vaulted ceiling. On the interior wall, there is a lance of stairs providing access to the adarve and lateral rectangular tower, in ruins, on the west and north. Along the line of walls in the south, is a coat-of-arms of the ancient town, that was likely moved from its original location.

Locally referred to as the Poço do Rei (the King's Pool), the cistern in situated in the south, consisting of a rectangular plan covered by tile. It is accessible from a door, the unique opening. In the interior, the space included a vaulted ceiling structured with two archways.

The powder magazine, variously called the revelim, rebolim, rebolinho or polvorim, is circular plan in stonework and masonry, with door to the west.

Two other pools provide support to the fortified courtyard: the Poço de Escada and the Poço de El-Rei. The first is situated in the Largo do Poço da Escada, and consists of an irregular square plan in masonry and in the southeast there is a nine-step stone slab staircase to the water, with the interior walls without decoration. The Poço d'El Rei situated in the square of the same name, is also rectangular and consists of a reservoir of grande dimensions in stonework, and covered by terrace, accessible by a double-flight of frontal stairs and landing. Over the terrace are two square openings, with stone guards, acting as light source. Its interior consists of a vaulted ceiling.

Castelo de Castelo Bom

Built on the top of a hill at a point of great strategic significance, on the remains of earlier fortresses dating back to the Bronze Age and Roman times, Castelo Mendo is a historical village surrounded by walls that were rebuilt in the twelfth century at the orders of D. Sancho I.

In 1229, D. Sancho II ordered the castle to be enlarged and granted the local population a charter to organise a fair, on condition that this was held three times a year. This was the first fair to be held on a regular basis in the whole of Portugal, and in 1281 D. Dinis ordered that this should be a free fair to be held on an annual basis. The fair's original storehouse still exists in the village on the site of what was once the fairground.

The village's name derives from that of the first governor, D. Mendo Mendes, appointed by D. Dinis in the fourteenth century. On one of the walls of the former jailhouse, it is still possible to see a stone sculpture which, according to popular tradition, represents Mendo, whilst on another house nearby one can see a representation of Menda, who was the wife of Mendo. This house is therefore known as the Casa da Menda.

Encircled by walls with six mediaeval gates (the main gate is flanked by two statues of pigs), the village essentially consists of simple stone houses, all of which originally had two storeys, the lower one being used to house the cattle, whilst the upper one was used as a residence. The extremely narrow streets made the village easy to defend, although a number of battles were fought here during the various wars in which Portugal was involved, especially those with the Spanish.

Restoration work has recently begun in the village and it is gradually regaining some of its original features, offering those visitors who venture inside its walls the chance to enjoy a journey into its rich and interesting past.



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Castelo de Castelo Mendo

Trancoso Castle and Walls
The irregularly shaped wall and citadel of the castle still survive in a good state of repair, thus contributing towards the mediaeval atmosphere in Trancoso.

According to historical data, the castle already existed in the 10th century but was only integrated within Portuguese territory in 1160 when it was conquered from the Moors by the first King of Portugal, D. Afonso Henriques. Given that Trancoso is a strategic point for defence of the border, the architectural complex was subject to various improvements and reinforcement works over the centuries. The most significant intervention was commissioned by D. Dinis, in 1282, when he ordered the wall to be constructed.

It is possible to enter the town through one of the four gates: the Porta d'El Rei to the South West, the Porta do Prado to the North West, and the Porta do Carvalho and Porta da Traição to the North.

The most impressive gate and the main entrance to Trancoso, is the Porta d'El Rei. It was given this name in reference to the works commissioned in the 13th century by the King D. Dinis, whose coat of arms appears on the upper section, alongside those of the municipality. There are 11 existing towers -- 4 in the wall and 7 in the citadel -- the most important of which is the Keep. The Keep is a Mozarab construction with a square layout and a strange configuration - the body narrows towards the top, terminating in the battlements. One of the towers encloses the ruins of the Chapel of Santa Bárbara.

On the north-east side, the castle attains the highest point of the plateau on which it is located -- 875 metres above sea level, thus making it an excellent belvedere over the surrounding area. On the horizon it is possible to see the Serra da Estrela mountain range to the south, Marofa to the west and the hills of Penedono to the North.


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Castelo de Trancoso

The medieval castle of Longroiva, classified as a national monument, is one of the most important examples of military Templar architecture of Beira Interior and one of the best testimonies to Romanesque castle in the region. Built on an alleged castro pre-Roman, erected between the centuries IV and II century BC, its construction will coincide with a significant outbreak of settlement in the region, in the early 12TH century, having belonged to the order of the temple and to the order of Christ. In the 18th century, with the progressive loss of importance of the town, has been documenting the progressive ruin of the Castle and, in the 19th century, the Castle passed to serve as supply of stone for construction and the interior of the castle was turned into a cemetery, which still today preserves use. In the 20th century, ali performed investigations have revealed some of the original structures, such as the cistern, and the conservation work allowed still remain parts of the walls and the keep, which was one of the first to be built in Portugal, second epigraph dated to 1174.



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