Visit the Castle of Beja - Santa Maria da Feira (Beja)

The Castle of Beja, located in the Parish of Santa Maria da Feira (Beja), dates from the Roman Invasion of the Iberian Peninsula. It is believed that the Roman walls of defense go back sometime between the third and fourth centuries.

The first restoration of the walls of Beja dates from the reign of D. Afonso III (1248-79), and began in 1253. The following year (1254), the village received its charter on the same terms as Santarém, confirmed in 1291 in the reign of his son, D. Dinis (1279-1325). This, in turn, continued the reconstruction works, reinforcing and enlarging the walls and towers (1307) and began the construction of the keep (1310).

Until the 17th century, Castelo de Beja was the object of various extensions and modernizations, particularly in the context of the Restoration War of Portuguese Independence, when it was reinforced by bastions according to the design of the military engineer and French architect Nicolau de Langres, approved by the engineer and chief cosmographer of the realm, Luís Serrão Pimentel, and General Agostinho de Andrade Freire (1644). In the period from 1669 to 1679 the works were directed by the engineers João Coutinho, Diogo de Brito de Castanheira and Manuel Almeida Falcão, but they were never completed.

In the 20th century it was classified as a National Monument, later the campaigns to consolidate sections of the walls (1958, 1959-1962, 1969, 1970-1973, 1980, 1981 and 1982) and the recovery of the Tower of Menagem ( 1965, 1969, 1981).

The Robust Tower of Menagem, in Gothic style, is considered as one of the most beautiful examples of military architecture of the Middle Ages in Portugal. It rises to forty meters high. The tower has angular counters on bushes, joined by balconies defended by pyramidal battlements. It is torn by ogival doors and twin windows, in a horseshoe arch. The rooms in its interior, richly decorated, have roofs in vault in cross of ogives.

The main door of the castle opens in an ogival arc and accesses the square of arms. Of the primitive doors still remain two of Romanesque origin: the Door of Évora, contiguous to the castle; and the arc of the Avis Gate. The Porta de Moura is defended by two turrets.