O Castelo de Torre de Coelheiros, no Alentejo, localiza-se na freguesia de Torre de Coelheiros, cidade e concelho de Évora e distrito de Évora, em Portugal.

Histórico

Mais propriamente um solar, acredita-se que a Torre de Coelheiros foi construída por volta de 1357, por iniciativa de Fernão Gonçalves, meirinho-mor do rei D. Afonso IV (1325-1357), com a função de paço senhorial.

No século XX, por falta de conservação, partes da edificação ruiram (1920). Considerada como Imóvel de Interesse Público por Decreto publicado em 18 de Julho de 1957, atualmente a edificação encontra-se compreendida no conjunto da Escola Primária e da Junta de Freguesia. Por essa razão, encontra-se em boas condições de conservação.

Características

Típico solar medieval, a edificação da torre é atualmente ladeada por dois corpos retangulares compostos por pavimento térreo e sobrado. A torre, de planta quadrangular, em alvenaria de pedra, atinge 15 metros de altura, coroada por merlões em estilo mourisco. É complementada por cunhais, seteiras e mata-cães aparelhados em cantaria de granito. O corpo lateral a norte, em melhor estado de conservação, é coroado por uma larga chaminé com remate cupular, e conserva ainda, nas janelas em granito, algo da tipologia solarenga tardo-medieval. O corpo a oeste aparenta ser de construção setecentista e encontra-se degradado, tendo ruído parte dos muros.



Castelo de Torre de Coelheiros

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The Castle of Portel (Portuguese:Castelo de Portel) is a medieval castle located in the municipality of Portel in the district of Evora in Portugal.

History

Middle ages

Construction was started during the reign of King Denis (1279-1325).

In the context of the 1383-85 Portuguese Interregnum crisis, Fernão Gonçalves de Sousa, mayor of Portel, took the sides with the Kingdom of Castile, and for fear of the residents rebelling, took their weapons to all and put them in the castle. In November 1384, the development of the Alentejo campaign by the forces of the Constable D. Nuno Alvares Pereira, a cleric of Portel, name John Matthew, opened them the village doors, facilitating the achievement of settlement and surrender the castle. When the crisis was over, the land was donated back to the House of Braganza. Later, under the reign of King Manuel I, the town and its castle are figured by Duarte de Armas (Book of Fortresses, c. 1509). At that time the castle was remodeled structure giving way to the Palace of the Dukes of Braganza and a barbican (1510), getting the works in charge of the architect-royal Francisco de Arruda, for instance D. Jaime, Duke of Braganza.

20th century to modern era

Lost its defensive function, away from border and the main access roads to the Alentejo region, the castle was gradually abandoned until becoming ruins in the nineteenth century.

In the early twentieth century, the whole was classified as a National Monument by decree, published on 23 June 1910. The intervention of the government was felt on time, in 1938, at the initiative of the Directorate General for National Buildings and Monuments ( DGEMN).

Property of the House of Braganza Foundation, the degradation of the whole continued to progress until the collapse of a cylindrical tower of the palace and, more recently, in February 1998, a wall portion adjacent to the donjon, an element that had been the subject of intervention in the 1980s the new intervention took place in 1999, in charge of DGEMN through its Regional Directorate South, based on traditional building techniques. The set awaits, however, a comprehensive plan of research and musealization.

Architecture

The castle in the Gothic style, has pentagonal plant reinforced by circular plan towers at the corners. Its shape, novelty in the Portuguese military architecture at the time, seems to have been inspired by the Château d'Angers, France. It is dominated post an imposing donjon of quadrangular plant, which stands at about twenty-five meters high, divided internally into two floors above the parapet line, both covered by rib vault warhead. The lower floor served as a prison. the marble in the wedges and the Gothic windows was used. The access door to the tower is in warhead. This tower protects the access gate to the north, in pointed arch. On the south side, the Beja gate determines an internal road axis in a straight line connecting the two ports. The set has three doors, including the Clock Gate and Outeiro door. In the main square opens up a cistern and can identify the remains of the Chapel of Saint Vincent and the ruins of a palace. The medieval village about, did not survive to us. The defense of the castle was complemented by a barbican, that are conserved still important sections in the south, north and west, composed of curtain reinforced by turrets of quadrangular. It is this Barbican rebuilt by King Manuel I, which corresponds to Gothic door surmounted by overlapping real coats.

Castle of Portel

The Castle of Viana do Alentejo (Portuguese: Castelo de Viana do Alentejo) is a gothic castle constructed during the reconquest and settlement of the central region of the Portuguese Alentejo, located in the parish of Viana do Alentejo, municipality of the same name. Although a relatively low-profile design, in comparison to its contemporaries (such as the Castle of Portel or Castle of Feira), the structure served the period of strife associated with expansion of Portuguese forces/authority into the southern Algarve.

History

The castle was founded in 1313; on establishing a foral (charter) to this village in 1313, King Denis ordered the construction of an encirclement of walls where this town lies, of 400 arms [length] donating 100,000 pounds for the public works. However, the fortification that exists in Viana do Alentejo "..does not match this regal intention regal...and the latest research lean towards the probability that [his subjects had] not gotten around to building it...[therefore] may the Castle of Viana do Alentejo be a work of the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century?

Reference to the completed fortifications occurred in 1490, when the first mention was made to repairs to the walls, battlements and pinnacles.

The DGEMN Direcção Geral dos Edifícios e Monumentos Nacionais (Directorate-General of Buildings and National Monuments) began a process of restoration and refurbishment in 1940, which included repairs to the battlements and walls. A return to this task occurred between 1970 and 1974, and again, in 1976, in addition to repairs to the towers.

Further repairs in 1978 included the execution of new brick masonry bunks, that were knocked down in the garden; consolidation and repair of two towers, with the use of reinforced concrete in one tower that had been split; and plastering in the domes and interior walls.

In 1992, the castle was placed under the management of the IPPAR Instituto Português do Património Arquitectónico (Portruguese Institute for Architectural Patrimony), under decree-law 106F/92, before become the responsibility of the Instituto de Gestão do Património Arquitectónico e Arqueológico ( Institute for the Management of Architectural and Archaeological Heritage).

Between the 2000 and 2005, simply referred to as the Projecto de Conservação, Recuperação e Valorização do Castelo de Viana do Alentejo(Project to Conserve, Recuperate and Valorize the Castle of Viana do Alentejo), was begun to advance an archaeological excavation of the site. During those investigations, a necropolis was discovered, while the walls, churches and cross were cleaned and rehabilitated.

Architecture

The castle is implanted on short rise, in the north flanks of the Serra de Viana, isolated on the periphery of the village of Viana do Alentejo. Within its walls are the parochial church aligned to the south wall, and the Church of the Misericórdia along its northwest wall, while the ancient cross of Viana do Alentejo is located approximately at its center.

The plan is an irregular pentagonal, with its base in the south and pointing to the north, consisting of five walls divided by five cylinderal towers at each vertex. The battlements cover the walls of the structure, of exposed brick alternating with openings and slits for protection. The location of the two churches means that these buildings front their respective walls.

Within these limit were constructed the Manueline-era parochial church (1521), attributed to Diogo de Arruda, an important mastercraftsman in the comarca of the Alentejo at the time. Opposite to this building is the Church of the Misericórdia, also attributed to Arruda around the same time. It served as the municipal offices until the end of the 17th century.

Castle of Viana do Alentejo

The Royal Palace of Évora (Portuguese: Paço Real de Évora), also known as the Royal Palace of São Francisco (Paço Real de São Francisco) and the Palace of King Manuel I (Palácio de D. Manuel), is a former royal residence of the Kings of Portugal, in Évora, the capital of Alentejo.
The palace has its origins in a convent built in the 13th century. During the 14th century, the convent came under royal use when the royal family was in the Alentejo, but only became a proper palace under the reign of King John I, who used it as a personal retreat from the court. It became a royal palace during King Afonso V's reign, though it was the successive reigns of King John II and Manuel I that turned the originally ordinary palace into a grandiose renaissance palace, truly fit for a king. Over the centuries, the palace fell prey to war, decay, and urban redevelopment, which destroyed nearly all of the palace, with only a few segments of the palace still existing.
The Royal Palace of Évora was one of the centers of the Portuguese Renaissance, under King Manuel I, where playwrights, like Gil Vicente, and explorers, like Vasco da Gama, sought audiences with the king. During this time, the palace was constantly being added to and worked on, a never ending piece of art during the time of Évora's cultural and political golden age.
History
The Royal Palace of Évora has its origins in the Convent and College of São Francisco, built before the reign of King Afonso IV. The convent's first royal function was in 1336, when Prince Pedro of Portugal celebrated his marriage to Constanza Manuel, which put the convent on royal notice.
In 1387, King John I took the first step in transforming the convent to a palace, when he ordered that two chambers, and antechamber, an inn, servants houses, a well, and an orange grove all be built at the convent, and evicted resident Franciscans from certain wings of the convent turned palace. While he turned the convent into a good sized palace, it was a personal palace, not a royal one, only for the use of the King, his Queen, and their children.
In 1470, King Afonso V raised the Palace of São Francisco, as it was known at the time, to the level of a royal palace. He expanded the complex and installed his court there, previously located in Estaus Palace. The King spent large sums of time at the palace, but after his defeat in the War of the Castilian Succession, he lived the rest of his life in a monastery, near Sintra.
King Afonso V's son, King John II, would be the first king to use the palace as a full-time palace, and not as a retreat or seasonal palace, like his predecessors. From 1481 to 1482, King John II installed the Portuguese Cortes, his parliaments, in the Royal Palace of Évora. In 1482, in order to better accommodate the Cortes, King John II expanded the former rectory of the convent into offices for the High Offices of the Royal Court, which allowed for a more organized and structured Cortes, thus allowing King John II to live at the palace for a long period. In 1490, King John II opened the Portuguese Cortes once again at the palace and on 24 March 1490, the palace became the center of festivities and ceremony for the marriage of Afonso, Prince of Portugal to Isabella, Princess of Asturias. To facilitate the marriage celebrations, King John II expanded the palace, through the construction of a new wing and gardens. In 1493, King John II amplified his works on the palace, creating the Hall of Ambassadors, the Queen's Hall, the Royal Armory, and the Tribunal of the Palace of São Francisco, thus pushing the friars of the palace into smaller quarters. In 1495, Pope Alexander VI granted King John II, as per his request, the right to completely evict all clergymen still residing in the convent part of the palace, so long that he build them a church and new convent.
With King John II's death, in 1495, his cousin, Manuel I, Duke of Beja and Viseu, succeeded King John II as King Manuel I of Portugal. King Manuel I's personal monopoly on the spice trade allowed the King to be a great patron of the arts, constructing numerous palaces, convents, and churches throughout the country. King Manuel I took a great interest in Évora, establishing his court there on various occasions. From 1502 to 1520, King Manuel I ordered a vast series of renovations, constructions, and enlargements. During the Manueline Campaigns, as the works are collectively known as, the palace grew to one of the largest palaces in Iberia. The additions were inspired by Alhambra of Granada. Through architects Martim Lourenço, Álvaro Anes, and António de Lagoa the Manuline Campaign saw the construction of Couto Hall, the Wing of the Infantes, an infirmary, the Royal Gardens and Hunting Grounds, the Royal Library, and the Gallery of Dames, which is the only part of the palace to survive to present day. Alongside expansion of the palace, King Manuel I also renovated the existing parts of the palace, remodeling the Queen's Hall, the servants quarters, and the Rossio of the Palace. In 1519, King Manuel I ordered architect André Pires to turn the plain Hall of Ambassadors into a Manueline Throne Room, which would direct itself towards the Palace Rossio.
In 1616, during Iberian Union, Philip II of Spain visited Évora and at the request of the Franciscans, issued a royal diploma that integrated the building, vegetable garden, orchard and garden at the Convent, beginning the ruin of the Queen's Room with the construction of 2 bedrooms of friars and use of the masonry and other materials of the Palace; Century. Most of the complex was destroyed during the Portuguese Restoration War.
Since 1865, the Palace of Manuel was used as an Archaeological Museum, theater and exhibition space, until a collapse on February 18, 1881 destroyed its roofs. After the disaster, it was adapted to the public theater house - the Teatro Eborense - after the works; directed by the engineer Adriano de Sousa Monteiro, changed the original design, adding a second floor with metallic frame, according to the taste of the time. In March 1916 it was destroyed by fire, and remained so until 1943, when it was recovered by the National Monuments, which restored the property and saved the essential parts of the old pavilion.

The Palace of King Manuel I

O Castelo de Évora, no Alentejo, localiza-se na cidade e Distrito de mesmo nome, em Portugal.

História

Antecedentes

Embora se acredite que a primitiva ocupação do sítio da atual Évora remonte à pré-história, o seu povoamento alcançou expressão à época da Invasão romana da Península Ibérica, quando ali existiu um ópido denominado Ebora Cereal (em latim: Eboras Cerealis).

Fiel ao imperador Júlio César, atingiu maior importância regional, quando recebeu importantes obras públicas, passando a ser designada como Liberalidade Júlia (c. 60 a.C.), conforme o testemunham os importantes vestígios arqueológicos entre os quais se destacam as ruínas de um templo em honra ao Imperador e os vestígios de muralhas no Largo da Misericórdia e junto ao Passeio de Diana.

Com o advento do cristianismo, a cidade tornou-se sede de um bispado desde o século IV. A sua importância manteve-se à época do domínio dos Visigodos, quando se tornou um centro de amoedação. Nesse período, as suas defesas foram ampliadas, conforme o testemunham três das torres então erguidas, entre as quais a chamada Torre de Sisebuto. As suas feições não foram sensivelmente alteradas durante o posterior domínio Muçulmano.

O castelo medieval

À época da Reconquista cristã da península, Évora foi inicialmente tomada pelas forças de D. Afonso Henriques (1159). Retomada em pouco tempo pelos Muçulmanos, a sua conquista definitiva só seria alcançada pelo lendário Geraldo Sem Pavor, em 1165, com o auxílio dos primeiros cavaleiros da Ordem de Calatrava, fundada em Castela dois anos antes, e que, em Portugal, receberam o nome de Frades de Évora por aqui terem se estabelecido. Documentos indicam que já em 1181 estes monges-cavaleiros eram denominados como Ordem de Évora, vindo a se denominar, cerca de meio século mais tarde Ordem de Avis, quando elegeram aqueles domínios por sede.

Durante o reinado de D. Sancho I (1185-1211), foi com o auxílio destes cavaleiros que a cidade resistiu ao assalto das forças do Califado Almóada comandadas por Iacube Almançor (1191), quando as fronteiras portuguesas foram empurradas até à linha do rio Tejo.

Embora se atribua o início de significativas obras de ampliação das defesas de Évora ao reinado de D. Dinis (1279-1325), é mais correto atribuí-las ao de D. Afonso IV (1325-1357), monarca que aqui residiu por largos períodos e de onde partiu para a batalha do Salado (1340). Documentos na Chancelaria de D. Pedro I (1357-1367) são os primeiros a mencionar a cerca da vila, referindo trabalhos na barbacã, fossos e muros. Essas obras estariam concluídas à época do reinado de D. Fernando (1367-1383), o que leva alguns autores a referirem a defesa externa da vila como cerca fernandina. Neste reinado é pela vez documentalmente referida a Porta do Raimundo (1373).

Afirma-se que por influência de D. Leonor Teles, esteve detido no Castelo de Évora, em 1382, o filho bastardo de D. Pedro I, D. João, Mestre da Ordem de Avis, supostamente acusado de uma conspiração contra o monarca, urdida com a colaboração de Gonçalo Vasques de Azevedo. D. João só conseguiu obter a liberdade apelando à intercessão do conde de Cambridge, filho de Eduardo III de Inglaterra e irmão do duque de Lencastre, comandante das tropas inglesas então em Portugal devido às pretensões de D. Fernando ao trono de Castela.

Obtida a rendição por este estratagema, foi o castelo objeto de depredações, vindo a população a chacinar todos os que, comprovadamente ou não, considerassem partidários da rainha. Entre os que assim pereceram, destacou-se a abadessa das freiras de São Bento, impiedosamente arrastada da Sé, onde se refugiara.

A antiga cerca foi ampliada no reinado de D. Afonso V (1438-1481), registando-se o desvio dos impostos arrecadados para outros fins: desse modo, em 14 de abril de 1445, determinou-se gastar 15.000 reais brancos em vestimentas para o Senado, quando da recepção de D. Joana, rainha de Castela; posteriormente, em 1449, o soberano não autorizou que os impostos lançados para a fábrica do muro se aplicassem em pontes e caminhos.

No século XVI, o primitivo vão, de arco perfeito de silharia, que permitia o acesso a Norte da cerca, foi substituído por outro, dadas as acanhadas dimensões do primeiro. Ainda nesse século, a Porta da Alagoa foi cedida por D. Sebastião (1568-1578) para miradouro das freiras do Convento de Santa Helena do Monte Calvário (1571).

Da Guerra da Restauração à Guerra Peninsular

No contexto da Guerra da Restauração, as defesas de Évora foram modernizadas, recebendo linhas abaluartadas, transformando-se numa Praça-forte. Veio a cair, entretanto, diante do assédio e assalto das forças castelhanas sob o comando de D. João de Áustria (Maio de 1663, ocasião em que a Porta da Alagoa foi arruinada), para ser reconquistada um mês depois, a 24 de Junho, pelas tropas portuguesas.

À época da Guerra Peninsular, insuficientemente guarnecida e com falta de munições, não teve sucesso na resistência à investida das tropas francesas sob o comando do general Louis Henri Loison.

Ainda nesse século, o vão quinhentista que permitia o acesso a Norte foi demolido e substituído pelo atual, por onde passa o tráfego da estrada de Évora a Arraiolos (1845); posteriormente, a Porta do Raimundo foi demolida e substituída (1880).

Os nossos dias

As suas defesas (ver Muralhas de Évora) encontram-se classificadas como Monumento Nacional por Decreto publicado em 4 de Julho de 1922.

Em 1945 foi quase que integralmente refeito o pequeno cubelo a Sudoeste.

Em finais de 1993 iniciaram-se os trabalhos de abertura, na muralha entre os dois cubelos a Sudoeste, perto do Postigo dos Penedos, de uma porta de mármore bujardado, marcando nitidamente a contemporaneidade da obra, para ligação pedonal entre a zona Oeste extramuros e o Centro Histórico da cidade.

Évora, que alguns definiram como cidade-museu, é testemunho de diversos estilos artísticos, dotada que foi, ao longo do tempo, de obras de arte. Desse modo, desde 1986, o seu conjunto encontra-se classificado como Património Comum da Humanidade, pela UNESCO.

Características

A muralha da cidade, com características da baixa Idade Média, mantém-se nas suas linhas essenciais, com troços bem conservados e elementos arquitectónicos significativos. Destacam-se a chamada Porta de Avis (referida em 1353), a Porta de Mendo Estevens (Porta do Moinho de Vento), a Porta da Alagoa (defendida por uma torre), a Porta de Alconchel (a principal da cidade, protegida por dois grandes torreões). O troço de muralha entre as Portas da Alagoa e do Raimundo manteve-se íntegro durante as épocas posteriores, não sendo alterado nas campanhas de obras dos séculos XVII e XVIII. A Porta da Alagoa, entretanto, encontra-se atualmente muito descaracterizada por reedificações sucessivas. A chamada Porta do Raimundo, demolida em 1880, foi reconstituída como uma composição revivalista.

Castelo de Évora

The Páteo de São Miguel - St Michael’s Yard - is located at one of the most distinguished and strategic points in the city of Évora and, for this reason, has been occupied by a series of invaders over the ages.
It was first occupied for essentially defensive reasons, situated as it is at the highest point in the city, which not only made it difficult for enemy forces to attack, but also enabled a vast area of the surrounding plain to be watched over and contact to be maintained by signal with neighbouring fortifications. The area occupied by the Páteo de São Miguel was the hub of the defensive fortifications of the city, the reason why it was the Moorish Alcácer and an integral part of the Old Castle of Évora.
After the conquest of the city from the Moors in 1165, the fortification was given to the Military Order of St. Benedict of Calatrava by King Afonso Henriques. The headquarters of the order were later transferred to Avis, and it became the Order of Avis. During the period when the order was based in Évora, the knights, also known as the Friars of Évora, resided in the houses of the old castle and others in the vicinity, giving rise to the toponyms "Freiria de Cima" and "Freiria de Baixo" associated with the upper and lower friaries, and are preserved today in the names of two alleys.
From 1220, the Paço de São Miguel - St Michael’s Palace - was reinstated by the Crown as royal palace, and served as an inn for the monarch until the time of King Duarte and as headquarters of Commander Dom Nuno Álvares, in charge of frontier towns in the Alentejo during the War of Independence (1383-85).
A testimony of the military and political importance of this space in the Middle Ages is provided by Fernão Lopes, a leading 15th-century Portuguese chronicler. During the crisis of 1383-1385, the supporters in Évora of Dona Leonor Teles and Dom João II of Castile barricaded themselves inside the castle. In order to take it, the supporters of Dom João, Master of Avis, the future King João I, besieged the walled city. The besieged troops rained down arrows on them from the Roman Temple and the cathedral, however, to little effect. The city gates were only breached when those faithful to the cause of the Master of Avis took prisoner the relatives of those besieged in the city and threatened to execute them.
With the growth of the city of Évora, the construction of the new city walls during the reign of King Fernando I, which surround the Historic Centre, and developments in artillery, the old castle lost its prime defensive role and took on importance as a centre of military, political and administrative power and the place of residence for those who wielded it.
https://www.fea.pt/

St Michael’s Palace

Built in the end of the 15th century, the Alvito Castle was probably built under the order of D. Diogo Lobo da Silveira, Baron of Alvito, in the reign of king D. joão II(1481 to 1495), with residential purposes.

The Castle was not involved into military conflicts, yet it received the visit kings and queens.
The Castle’s architecture reinforces this idea of a residential unit, as one can observe by the many windows in the towers, conferring a look of a fortified house, which at that time was a Royal privilege.

Probably due to its long use as a house, the building has been maintained in a good conservation state, despite the disappearance of some features such as the bridge that was used as main door.

The liberal wars lead into the abandonment of the castle for many years, until the intervention of the Bragança House Foundation, which offered the utilization of the building as a luxury and historical hotel: the Alvtito Castle Pousada.

Some say that before the construction of this monument, a previous Castle may have existed here, dating back to the 13th century, yet there are no official confirmations, yet this region presents several ancient occupancy testimonies, with many archaeological vestiges, such as Roman coins, tombs and buildings ruins.

https://www.guiadacidade.pt

Castelo de Alvito

The Castle of Vidigueira is a castle in the civil parish of Vidigueira in the municipality of Vidigueira in the Portuguese subregion of Baixo Alentejo. Although constructed in the first half of the 15th century, it is more commonly associated with the first of the Counts of Vidigueira: Vasco da Gama.

History

The first Donatary of Vidigueira and castle was Mestre Tomé, treasurer of the Sé Cathedral of Braga during the reign of Afonso III of Portugal, making the construction of the castle part of the repopulation strategy of the 13th century. Mestre Tomé, sometime supplier for the old Matriz church of the settlement, erected and reinforced the castle as a bastion of the defense line of the Guadiana, an important line between Portugal and Castile. A few decades later, at the beginning of the 14th century, King Denis recovered the village of Vidigueira for the Crown of Portugal. In 1385 King John I offered Vidigueira to his constable, Nuno Álvares Pereira. Through his daughter's (D. Beatriz Pereira Alvim) marriage, with D. Afonso, Count of Barcelos and first Duke of Braganza, the castle and courtyard in Vidigueira passed into the possession of the House of Braganza, one of the more opulent in the kingdom.

The fortified rectangular tower, which today can still be appreciated, albeit the state of ruin, dates from the signeurial holdings of Fernando I, Duke of Braganza, in the first half of the 15th Century. With the confiscation of the properties and possessions of the House of Braganza, in 1483, the holdings were re-obtained by the Crown of Portugal, until its annulment in 1500, by Manuel I of Portugal. King Manuel, at that time, signed a foral for the town of Vidigueira, around 1512. But, little time passed, before the same monarch conceded to Vasco da Gama, then Admiral of India, the title of first Count of Vidigueira, compensating the navigator for his adventures.

Once again, the castle left the possession of the House of Braganza; on 7 November 1519, Vasco da Gama signed a contract to sell and renounce these possessions, in favor of the House of Braganza. From Évora the Palace of Vidigueira was transferred, including the not only the palace annex and fortifications. Of this palace, which was an important structure, nothing remains of this structure, except the Manueline window, brought from the Vila de Frades, a possession of the Counts of Vidigueira at the time.

On 1 June 1992, the structure was transferred into the possession of the Instituto Português do Património Arquitectónico (IPPAR) (by Decree 106F/92).

Architecture

The castle is located in an urban context, isolated on a plateau. It is situated on the western side of the town, within the urban area, with several buildings/structures surrounding it. Alongside the tower is a Manueline window brought from Vila de Frades, which was judged to have been from the Palace of the Counts of Vidigueira.

A rectangular tower, the castle is a vertical block, with little ornamentation such as merlons. The tower that remains, known as the Atalaia das Vidigueiras, is a soft construction, regularly built, and altered with successive interventions. In a state of partial ruin, there are no coverings to protect what remains, nor merlons to crown the parapets. To the southwest is the beginnings of a wall, today transformed into a staircase, for access to the structure. In the southeast, is a sculpted stone with the coat-of-arms of the Counts of Vidigueira. The coat of arms includes a shield in the centre, with five smaller shields placed in a cruciform.

Castle of Vidigueira

Little more than 170 kilometres southeast of Lisbon, near the historical city of Reguengos de Monsaraz, we find a landscape typical of the Baixo Alentejo region. It is here, amongst rolling plains, shallow valleys, occasional streams, corn fields, vineyards and olive groves, we find Herdade do Esporão.

Hill-top farms and small, whitewashed villages guard the memory of life that goes back to the Prehistoric times of tapirs and dolmens, then Iberians, Romans, Visigoths and Muslims and the many others who once settled here.

The Medieval history of the region began with the Reconquista of Monsaraz and Reguengos in 1232. Since then, wine and olive oil have become an indelible aspect of the region. The geographical boundaries of Herdade do Esporão (originally Defesa do Esporão) were only established in 1267, and have been practically unchanged since then, despite being the setting for bloody battles and heroic deeds over almost nine centuries.

Soeiro Rodrigues, the judge of the city of Évora, was the first of many owners, who included Santiago Rodrigues de Vasconcelos, the Morgado D. Álvaro Mendes de Vasconcelos (who built the Esporão Tower) and the counts of Alcáçovas, who retained the property until 1973, the year it was acquired by José Roquette and Joaquim Bandeira.

In 1985, the first vintage saw the creation of the Esporão brand and the first wine produced by what was then Finagra, S.A.. In 1989, wine began being exported to what is now over 50 international markets.

Eight years later, Esporão entered the olive oil business with the acquisition of SPAZA (Sociedade Produtora de Azeites do Alentejo) – now Esporão Azeites.

At the heart of Herdade do Esporão stand three historical monuments: the Esporão Tower, the Esporão Arch and the Nossa Senhora dos Remédios Chapel, which is linked to intense and devout worship in the region that sees local people form a procession when the rains come late. The Esporão Tower, a symbol of standing in society and military power, is one of the most important towers illustrating the transition from Medieval times to the Modern Age in Portugal.

Today, the archaeological complex is an important benchmark for research into recent European pre-history.

https://www.esporao.com