page_title: Castle of Aljezur
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Castle of Aljezur / History
caption_attribution_description: Português: Castelo de Aljezur, Aljezur, Portugal.
context_page_description: The Castle of 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.
context_section_description: 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 of the castle aided by a Moorish woman, who betrayed her fellow countrymen and delivered the citadel into the hands of the knights The Lenda of Maira Aires, also suggests that the castle was taken by Paio Correia on 24 June, on the feast day of the village's patron saint.  Its occupation did not result in the partial or total destruction of the castle, although alterations to the fortress occurred in the first decades of its Christian occupation.
  Following the 1267 Treaty of Badajoz, the castle and other fortresses along the Algarve were transferred into the dominion of the King Afonso III of Portugalby Alfonso X of Castile. King Denis of Portugal issued a foral (charter) to the region of Aljezur on 12 November 1280, while staying in Estremoz. Thirty years later, the monarch bartered away the Castle of Aljezur and other lands for the town of Almada (1 December 1297).
  In 1448, during a visitation by members of the Order of Santiago to the town of Aljezur, they referred to the castle being in a state of abandon, at the same time prohibiting the removal of rock and masonry from the site for other constructions. Further, the report mentioned directions by the Order to reconstruct the walls and the cleaning of the cistern.
  On 20 August 1504, King Manuel of Portugal reissued a foral from Lisbon, where he conferred the title of honrada (honoured) to the charter (seen as a way to attract new settlers to the region).
  The 1755 Lisbon earthquake caused the destruction of all the homes in the town, and demolishing most of the castle, saving only the tribune and the Presbytery in the church.
  As a result of the 1940-1941 commemorations of the Portuguese centenary, the walls was partially reconstructed.
  On 19 September 1972, a decision by the JNE considered future plans to convert the castle into a hotel should only be considered if the volume of remodelling required did not harm the interior of the monument.  Yet, this decision did not inhibit other business-related plans, leading eventually to the 1 June 1992 decision to transfer the castle into the authority of the IPPAR Instituto Português do Património Arquitectónico (Portuguese Institute of Architectural Patrimony), a forerunner of the IGESPAR Instituto de Gestão do Património Arquitectónico e Arqueológico (Institute for the Management of Architectural and Archaeological Heritage). In the meantime, a project to illuminate the castle grounds (in 1973 and, again, in 1981) and construction of an improved road accessway and parking area were completed in 1976-1977 by the municipal government of Aljezur (CMA). Urgent consolidation and repairs of the walls were undertaken in 1985.
  On 21 November 1996, the CMA of Aljezur issued a public tender to elaborate a project to reconstruct, preserve and consolidate the remains of the Castle for the purposes of utilizing the structure as a method attracting tourism to the region. Two years later (29 September 1998), the final plan was presented publicly.
caption: Partial ruins alongside the main wall
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