Castle of Aljezur

Parish de Aljezur

Background

The castle was built in a location that allowed good visual control over the Ribeira de Aljezur and its plain, and part of the coastal strip.

The Ribeira de Aljezur passes through the D. Sancho valley and then flows into the ocean, next to Praia da Amoreira, having been an important communication axis between the Alentejo coast and the Barlavento Algarvio. It was in good navigable condition until the 16th century, and traces of a river port have been found on the riverbank, in the town of Aljezur.

During the Roman period, the site where the castle was later built may have been occupied by a fort of the Lusitanian people, while the Romans themselves may have installed a watch post there. This function as a watch post would have been taken up again by the Visigoths, between the 7th and 8th centuries.

Access to the building is via the streets of Cerro do Castelo and D. Pires Paio Correia.

The medieval castle

The foundation of the castle itself would only have occurred in the 10th century, during the medieval Islamic period, during which the town of Aljezur was also created. In fact, the castle's fortified structures were identified as belonging to this period, as well as some buildings inside it. The remains of Muslim chronology can be separated into two distinct phases, the first corresponding to several structures, probably for residential use, of which only the walls, topped with mud, and the floors, some of them with flagstones, remain. The walls belong to a second phase, having probably been erected during the beginning of the second period of the Almohad Caliphate, between the 12th and 13th centuries, a period in which the silos inside the castle were also excavated. This fortress would be part of the defensive complex of the region under the control of Silves, which at that time included the region from Aljezur and the south of the Alentejo coast to the modern municipalities of Lagoa and Albufeira. The town of Aljezur itself may have Islamic origins, with its foundation being attributed to the beginning of the 10th century.

According to tradition, the village was reconquered by Christian forces in 1242 or 1246, on June 16, by a detachment of the Order of Santiago, under the command of Paio Peres Correia. In fact, the town of Alvor was taken in 1240, and Tavira in 1242, although the reconquest only ended in 1249, with the liberation of Silves, Faro, Albufeira and Porches. As a reward for their role in the reconquest of the Algarve, King Afonso III offered Aljezur and other locations to the Order of Santiago. After the reconquest, that monarch would have ordered works to be carried out on the castle, which may have included the construction of compartments next to the walls. At this time, the castle may have had functions mainly from a military point of view.

The castle was abandoned between the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century, as it lost its importance as a defensive post due to the silting of the Aljezur River, which reduced its navigability. Another reason that contributed to the abandonment of the castle was a reduction in the strategic importance of the town of Aljezur, and a need to defend more important points in the Algarve region. In fact, the ceramic fragments that were discovered in the upper part of the filling of the structures, used as a rubbish dump, are typical of the transition period from the 15th to the 16th century.

In the 15th century, the castle was already in an advanced state of abandonment, as reported by a visit by the Order of Santiago to the town of Aljezur, in 1448 or 1482.

From the 20th century to the present day

After several centuries of abandonment, the first significant interventions in the castle were only made between 1940 and 1941, as part of the celebrations of the centenary of Infante D. Henrique, during which important restoration works were carried out on monuments in the Western Algarve, including in Fortress of Sagres and in the city of Lagos. In the case of Aljezur Castle, its importance was highlighted, mainly due to the tradition that it would be one of the Algarve's fortresses included in the national flag, with repair work having mainly been carried out on the walls, although some sections were significantly modified during the process. These interventions were remembered on a commemorative plaque, placed next to the entrance to the castle. On October 12, 1956, the 1st Subsection of the 6th Section of the National Board of Education issued an opinion on the classification of the castle, and on October 13 of that year the Undersecretary of State for National Education published a homologation order to that effect. On September 19, 1972, the National Board of Education gave its opinion on the possible installation of a hotel unit in the castle, having declared that it would only authorize this work if its interior was not damaged. In 1973, a project was drawn up for the building's external lighting, at the request of the city council, and between 1976 and 1977, the access road and a parking lot were built. Aljezur Castle was classified as a Property of Public Interest by Decree 129/77, of September 29th. In 1981, lighting systems were installed, and in 1985 urgent conservation work was carried out on the walls.

Decree-Law 106F/92, of 1 June, published in the Official Gazette no. 126, Series A, consigned the monument to the Portuguese Institute of Architectural Heritage. On 21 November 1996, Aljezur City Council issued an announcement for the opening of a public tender for the Project for the Reconstruction, Conservation, Consolidation and Use of Aljezur Castle, and on 29 September 1998, the local authority made a public presentation of the preliminary study for that programme.

In 1988, Aljezur Castle was the subject of prospecting work, as part of an archaeological survey program in the municipalities of Aljezur and Monchique. Also in the 1980s, restoration work was carried out on the castle, including on the walls, where a retaining wall was built to prevent the collapse of the ruins of the medieval structure.

In the 1990s, the Castle was again the target of archaeological research, and remains from the Bronze and Iron Ages, and the Roman and Islamic periods were found. These surveys were carried out by the Archaeology Unit of Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast Natural Park, in partnership with the Aljezur Municipal Council.

In 2004, surveys were carried out in the castle in order to identify the old layout of the wall, in order to subsequently carry out its partial reconstruction. During these works, the lower limit of the wall next to the South Tower was unearthed, and it was discovered that the wall that had been restored in the 1980s was displaced from the medieval wall, towards the outside, and the plans and primitive construction techniques had not been respected. In 2005, archaeological monitoring work was carried out, following the award of the contract for the Stabilization and containment of the slope under the foundations of the walls of Aljezur Castle by the Portuguese Institute of Architectural Heritage. Traces of a possible floor were found, which may indicate the presence of housing levels outside the walls, and a housing interior with a fireplace where two Dirhams of silver, so it would have been occupied during the Islamic period. Traces of the collapse of mortared blocks were also found, possibly from the final phase of Muslim rule before the reconquest. In 2008, the castle entrance area was renovated in order to minimize the impacts of the Aljezur Castle Archaeological Structures Rehabilitation Program, and at the same time identify the different periods of occupation at that location.

Features

The fortress has an irregularly shaped polygonal plan, approximately octagonal, which was chosen to better adapt to the topography of the place where it is located. The walls, which are rectilinear in shape, are around 1.5 m thick and 3 to 5 m high, and are punctuated by two massive towers, located at opposite ends of the castle, to the north and south. Originally, both the walls and the towers may have had Battlements, with access to the top of the towers being via wooden ladders. Traces of a Barbican were also found on the northwest slope, which would have been less than a meter high, and of outcrops of a wall on the west side. The North Tower, about 5 m in diameter and 9 m high on the outside, had a circular plan, and served to guard the only entrance to the castle, on the northeast side. The other tower was quadrangular in shape, measuring 4.98 by 4.40 m, and had a height and installation level similar to that of the circular tower. On the northwest side of the castle is the only opening in the walls, functioning as an entrance. In this area, a stone plaque was installed relating to the Centenary Celebrations and the intervention that was carried out on the castle at that time.

The legends of Mareares

The reconquest of the castle in the 13th century was linked to a local legend, which tells that a Moorish woman supported the Christians out of love.

Aware of the privileged position of the castle and the close surveillance maintained by the Moors, D. Paio Peres Correia, dispatched some Portuguese scouts to probe the terrain and the habits of the people of the town, in order to draw up his plan of assault. In the field, they managed to entice a Moorish woman of rare beauty, Maria Aires, who informed them about an ancient custom of the region's inhabitants, of bathing at Amoreira beach in the early hours of June 24th.

With this information in hand, D. Paio arranged his men so that, on the night of the 23rd to the 24th of that month, they would hide in the valley next to the castle, today known as the valley of D. Sancho, certainly in homage to the sovereign at the time, Sancho II of Portugal. Camouflaged with the vegetation, they waited for the Moors to move towards the beach at dawn. As soon as this began, the Christians, still under cover of darkness, began the final approach to assault the unguarded town and castle. At that moment, a girl, granddaughter of an old woman who had stayed behind in the village, noticing the unusual movement outside the gates, ran to tell her grandmother that the bushes were moving. The old lady was explaining to her granddaughter the effects of the breeze on the vegetation when, out of the blue, the Christians burst through the doors, overpowering the lady who still tried to raise the alarm by ringing a bell in the cistern tower. As the Portuguese were in control of the land, they raised the alarm, luring the defenders into a deadly trap inside the compound.

With the town conquered for the Portuguese coat of arms, D. Paio, it is said, moved by the charms of the beautiful Maria Aires, spared her life and honour, having her build a house in a place close to the town which, to this day, in her memory, is called Mareares.