page_title: Castle of Castelo Branco
section_title: 20th century
hierarchical_section_title: Castle of Castelo Branco / History / 20th century
context_page_description: The Castle of Castelo Branco, is a Portuguese medieval castle in civil parish of Castelo Branco, in the municipality of the same name, in the Centro district of Castelo Branco. Known locally, as the Castelo dos Templários, the Romanesque castle was constructed under the orders of King Afonso II of Portugal in 1214.
context_section_description: By the beginning of the 20th century, the castle served little histo-cultural purpose and the municipal authorities used it a backdrop to local concerns. In 1929, the municipality constructed a public urinal along the wall of the Rua Vaz Preto. Within the next year, the last wall tower collapsed, after a period of ruin. In 1933, three water reservoirs were constructed, adjudicated to Manuel Figueira, in lands acquired for 6.000$00 Portuguese escudos.
  A storm caused a landslide that destroyed the eastern/northern corner tower, leading to a formal request to the DGEMN to begin a project of restoration and lookout. Simultaneously, the municipality solicited ideas for the reconstruction of the castle from Engineer Manuel Tavares dos Santos, but lacking any funds, this project was abandoned. By 1975, the possibility of demolishing the wall along Rua Vaz Preto was examined: the DGEMN analyzed the walls along this corridor in 1977, in order to determine the viability, while the municipal authority expropriated homes along the segment of the walls.
  In 1981, structures that belonged to the GNR, and which were addorsed to the walls along the Rua Vaz Preto were demolished. During the course of the demolition of houses along Rua Vaz Preto, part of the original wall and towers were re-discovered. This led to the 5 June 2009 proposal to seek a formal classification of the site's heritage status. On 26 October 2009, the DRCCentro requested the castle's classification as a Property of Public Interest. It was accepted on 28 October by the consultative council of IGESPAR, but the process was archived on 7 January 2013, and the site never obtained its classification.
caption: A view of the castle as seen from the municipality of Castelo Branco
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