Castle of Aljezur

About

The Castle of Aljezur (Portuguese: Castelo de Aljezur) is a medieval castle founded in the parish of Aljezur, in the municipality of the same name overlooking the Aljezur River. Excavations in the castle have discovered that the location was occupied during the Bronze and Iron Ages, while the parade grounds, habitational structures, and two silos date to the 12th and 13th centuries.

The site of the castle was occupied, successively and uninterrupted by Lusitanians, who constructed a castro to oversee their lands, before being pushed aside by the Romans, who constructed a lookout. By the 7th-8th century, the Visigoths also used the space as a sentry to safeguard their territory. By the beginning of the 10th century, a small town was founded by Arabs, who reformulated their defences, constructing various dependencies within and outside the walls. Of these constructions, only the cistern in the castle survives their period of occupation. The castle was part of the Moorish defensive line of Silves, during the Almohad Caliphate and era of the Iberian taifas. In 1242 (or 1246), Aljezur was conquered by knights loyal to Paio Peres Correia. As legend suggests, the conquest...