O Castelo de Penacova localizava-se na vila, freguesia e concelho de mesmo nome, Distrito de Coimbra, em Portugal.

História

Antecedentes

Embora se identifiquem diversos testemunhos da passagem dos primitivos povoadores da península Ibérica na região (Fenícios, Romanos, Visigodos e Muçulmanos), nenhum se radicou permanentemente na área do castelo.

O castelo medieval

Historiograficamente, Pinho Leal é o único a afirmar a existência de um castelo no local, localizando-o no monte Sul, onde depois se construiu a Igreja Matriz. Outros autores lembram que a expressão pena, geralmente se refere, à época, a um pequeno castelo sobre um afloramento rochoso.

A construção desse castelo, é atribuída ao conde Sesnando Davides, governador da circunscrição conimbricense, cujo mandato lhe foi outorgado por Fernando Magno, soberano que havia conquistado Coimbra aos mouros desde 1064, trazendo a Reconquista cristã da península Ibérica até à região.

A primeira referência documental à povoação data de 1105, no contexto de uma disputa entre as gentes de Penacova e os monges do poderoso Mosteiro de Lorvão, obrigando à intervenção pessoal do conde D. Henrique para a reconciliação, sendo, portanto, anterior à nacionalidade.

A segunda referência é constituída pela Carta de Foral, passada por D. Sancho I (1185-1211) em 1192 (cf. Pinho Leal) ou 1193, visando incrementar povoamento e a defesa da terra. Este diploma foi confirmado por seu filho e sucessor, D. Afonso II (1211-1223), em Coimbra, a 6 de Novembro de 1217 e, séculos mais tarde, por D. Manuel (1495-1521), ao lhe passar o Foral Novo (Lisboa, 31 de Dezembro de 1513).

A primitiva igreja paroquial de Penacova foi a Capela de Nossa Senhora da Guia, até ser substituída pela nova Igreja Matriz, no século XVI, uma vez que a antiga era de pequenas dimensões e se encontrava em local de difícil acesso. Não há maiores referências acerca da conexão entre esta capela ou mesmo a Igreja do século XVI e o antigo castelo medieval, recordado apenas no brasão de armas da vila.

Castelo de Penacova

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The Buçaco Palace is a luxury hotel located in the mountain range of Serra do Buçaco, in the municipality of Mealhada, in central Portugal.
History
The area around the Buçaco Palace was part of a Discalced Carmelite convent established in 1628. The monks of the Convento de Santa Cruz do Buçaco not only built a convent but also created a luxurious garden with many species of trees. The garden was supposed to represent Mount Carmel (where the order was founded) and the Earthly Paradise. Date from the late 17th century a series of chapels with representations of a Via Crucis in the garden. Part of the convent, including the church with Baroque altarpieces, is still preserved beside the palace. At the entrance of the old convent, there is a plaque to the Battle of Bussaco which commemorates the fact that Viscount Wellington, who later became the Duke of Wellington, spent the night in the convent after the battle on 27 September 1810. The Carmelites left Buçaco in 1834 century following the dissolution of the monasteries in Portugal.
Palace Hotel
Late in the century there were plans to turn the ancient convent into a royal residence for Queen Maria Pia, wife of King Luís I. However, difficult political circumstances soon led to the decision to turn the palace into a hotel.
The Palace Hotel of Buçaco was built between 1888 and 1907. The first architect was the Italian Luigi Manini (1848-1936), who designed a Romantic palace in Neo-Manueline style, evoking the 16th-century architectural style that characterised the peak of the Portuguese Age of Discovery. The Buçaco Palace is inspired in iconic Manueline buildings like the Jerónimos Monastery and the Belém Tower, both located in Lisbon.
Manini was succeeded by Nicola Bigaglia, José Alexandre Soares and Manuel Joaquim Norte Júnior, the latter responsible for the annex Casa dos Brasões (House of the Coat-of-Arms). The inner rooms are richly decorated with Neo-Manueline portals and stucco work imitating Manueline rib vaulting, being also an important showcase of Portuguese painting and sculpture of the early 20th century. The inner walls are also decorated with tile (azulejo) panels by Jorge Colaço. These panels depict scenes taken from Portuguese literature as well as historical events like the Battle of Bussaco.

Buçaco Palace

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 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.
https://www.flickr.com/

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.