Castle of Lagos

Parish of Lagos

Background

The city of Lagos has a very ancient history, with the first village in the area being the castro or fortified city of Lacóbriga, founded around 1899 BC by the Conian people. The main site indicated by archaeologists as the location of Lacóbriga is Monte Molião, where traces have been found from prehistoric times up to Roman rule. Traces of Phoenician and Greek peoples have been found in the Lagos area. The settlement was conquered by the Carthaginians, who moved its location in the middle of the first millennium BC to the site of the modern city of Lagos. The new village received a quadrangular wall for its defense.

The city was conquered by Roman forces in the 1st century BC, at which time its name was changed to Lacobrica. Roman rule over Lusitania lasted until the middle of the first millennium, ending with invasions by peoples from the East, first the Alans and then the Visigoths.

The medieval castle

At the time of the Reconquista, it was initially conquered by the forces of King Sancho I (r. 1185-1211) in 1189. It was retaken in 1191 by the forces of the Almohad Caliphate under the command of Caliph Yakub Almanzor (r. 1184-1199) and remained under Moorish control until its reconquest between 1241 and 1249. The Muslim inhabitants fled to North Africa, but destroyed the buildings in Lagos before they left. Although the reconquest was over, the Muslim peoples continued to wage war across the ocean, frequently attacking Lagos and other seaside towns in the Algarve.

Just as we do not have reliable information about the architectural evolution of the defences under Muslim rule, the same is true for the first centuries of Christian rule. It is known that the works began during the reign of Afonso III of Portugal (1248-1279), continuing during the reign of Denis of Portugal (1279-1325) and Afonso IV of Portugal (1325-1357). Afonso IV ordered the construction of a belt of walls around the city, which covered the area between the Porta da Vila, the future Church of Santo Antônio, the castle and the Porta de São Gonçalo. A letter from 1332 by Afonso IV of Portugal states that the walls were still to be completed, and at that time they extended from the Church of Santa Maria to the prison, on the outskirts of the town.

Reports survive of the continuation of the work during the period of King Ferdinand (1367-1383). The last of these reports was issued during the Hundred Years' War, probably as part of a campaign to modernize the defenses.

From here they set out:

• 1415 - the Portuguese expedition to conquer Ceuta, in North Africa;
• 1419 - the ships to discover Madeira Island;
• 1427 - the ships to discover the Azores Archipelago;
• 1434 - Gil Eanes' ship that rounded Cape Bojador, on the west coast of Africa;
• 1458 and 1472 - the expeditions of Afonso V of Portugal (1438-1481) to conquer Alcácer-Ceguer, Arzila and Tangier in North Africa.

From the Restoration War to the present day

After the Philippine Dominion, the city of Lagos began a period of decline, which had negative effects on the defensive apparatus, whose works were mainly to reinforce the existing structures, although some new forts were built on the coast.

Later, the city and its defenses were severely affected by the tsunami that struck the Algarve coast as a result of the 1755 earthquake. The resulting destruction was so great that the civil and military governments were transferred to Tavira, which was less affected. At the end of the century, the city center was transferred from the old Praça de Armas (current Praça Infante D.Henrique) to Praça do Cano (current Praça Gil Eanes) (1798).

The 1755 earthquake devastated a large part of the city of Lagos, including the Castle, which was never rebuilt. Reports from the time say that the ocean waters rose to the height of the walls, which were completely destroyed in the parts where they collided.

In the second half of the 19th century, the city experienced a surge of expansion, following the installation of fish canning industries. During this period, the Porta de Portugal and Porta dos Quartos were enlarged, as well as a fountain being built at the Baluarte da Porta Nova (1863) and, later, the Porta do Postigo, Porta do Cais and Porta Nova were enlarged (1888).

In the 20th century, Lagos was one of the main cities covered by the Centenary Celebrations program, having undergone major remodeling works, including the restoration of the walls and their clearing through the demolition of adjacent buildings, and the construction of an avenue that outlined the urban limits on the coastline. On August 7, 1960, the Avenida dos Descobrimentos was inaugurated as part of a grand celebration in the city of Lagos, with the presence of Admiral Américo Tomás and the Brazilian president, Juscelino Kubitschek, who visited the Castle of Lagos.

From the second half of the 1950s onwards, the government, through the General Directorate of National Buildings and Monuments, in view of the Centenary celebrations, carried out a wide-ranging intervention in the built heritage of Lagos, demolishing buildings attached to the old walls and bastions, rebuilding the Paço dos Governadores, rebuilding sections of the walls and opening the Avenida das Descobertas, in a landfill that increased protection between the city and the sea.

On October 10, 1984, the Diário de Lisboa reported that an agreement had been signed between the municipality of Lagos and the Ministry of Social Equipment for a major urban rehabilitation program in the historic center of the city, which included the construction of an amphitheater at one of the corners of the walls. At that time, the General Directorate of National Monuments was carrying out partial restoration work on the walls and some of the towers, and began a restoration program for the Governors' Castle, whose area was in a very degraded state, which was expected to last around three years and cost twenty thousand contos.

Subsequently, the various remodeling works on the old defensive structures continued, with emphasis on the adaptation of the Baluarte da Vila to an astronomical observatory.

In 2018, the Lagos City Council launched a competition for remodeling works in the eastern area of the walls of Lagos, next to the Jardim da Constituição, and which includes the Torreão da Ribeira, the two barrack towers at the Porta de São Gonçalo, the southern façade of the Governors' Castle plus its ravelin, and the section of the wall from the first tower to the Governors' Castle. This project cost 140 thousand Euros and had a four-month execution period. In November of that year, the annual meeting of the Urban Sketchers association was held in Lagos, an event that included guided tours of several of the city's monuments, including the city walls and the Governors' Castle.

In April 2019, the Lagos Municipal Magazine reported that the city council had awarded two more works on the city walls, which consisted of maintenance on Rua da Barroca and the restoration of the eastern section of the walls. At the end of 2019, the Lagos City Council's Budget and Activity Plan for 2020 was approved, with one of the planned works being the continuation of the conservation and enhancement works on the city walls.

Architecture

The city's defenses have an incomplete plan in the shape of an irregular pentagon, marked by nine square and/or pentagonal bastions and five access roads. Unlike other complexes, it is not located in a dominant position on the land, but rather next to the estuary. It is the intersection of two wall belts from different construction periods, where the following remains:

• Medieval Fence, also called Pano Nascente or maritime fence, because it faces the sea to the east. With thicker walls (c. 2 meters wide and heights that vary from 7.5 to 10 meters), spanned by battlements, topped by battlements and arrow slits, it extends from the Governors' Palace (current Lagos Hospital) to the Porta de São Gonçalo (flanked by two square-plan barrack towers) and to the Torre do Trem Bastion. This section continues, with interruptions, to the south, until the Porta da Vila, which opens onto the land side. It also includes the ravelin of the Castelo dos Governadores and the Torreão da Ribeira. At the Town Gate,
• the New Fence or Renaissance Wall begins, with characteristics of the Renaissance style, which develops on the land side, to the west, starting from the Baluarte de Santa Maria and continuing to the Baluarte da Praça de Armas, the Baluarte da Conceição and the Baluarte da Alcaria. From the latter, the circuit turns north, reaching the Baluarte da Porta dos Quartos, the Baluarte de Santo Amaro and the Baluarte de São Francisco. From here, the wall, with interruptions, turns towards the sea, in an easterly direction.

Among the surviving bastions, the Alcaria stands out, which is the most prominent on the west side, and which forms a high quadrangular tower, with an access ramp to the walls, and two large oriels. On the west side of the walls, two of the bastions, the Porta dos Quartos and the São Francisco, have parapets suitable for the use of artillery.