page_title: Castle of Almourol
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: Castle of Almourol / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: Castelo de Almourol - Pormenor
context_page_description: The Castle of Almourol is a medieval castle atop the islet of Almourol in the middle of the Tagus River, located in the civil parish of Praia do Ribatejo, 4 kilometres from the municipal seat of Vila Nova da Barquinha, in Portugal's Center Region. The castle was part of the defensive line controlled by the Knights Templar, and a stronghold used during the Portuguese Reconquista.
context_section_description: The castle rises over a granite outcropping 18 metres (59 ft) in height, and is approximately 310 metres (1,020 ft) long and 75 metres (246 ft) wide, in the middle of the Tagus River waterway, a few metres below its confluence with the Zêzere River in front of the town of Tancos.
  The castle has an irregular rectangular plan consisting of two enclosures: an exterior lower level faces upstream with a traitors' gate and walls reinforced by nine tall circular towers; while the interior enclosure, located at a higher elevation, has walls accessible by the main gate to the main keep. The keep is three stories tall, and includes the original pads that supported the main truss. The remaining sentry towers are irregular, owing to the irregular terrain. The keep is actually an innovation at this castle, appearing in the 12th century after the Castle of Tomar, the principal defensive redoubt of the Templars in Portugal. Similarly, the watchtowers were innovations brought into the western Iberian peninsula by the Templars, and applied in Almourol.
  The interior is bisected by several masonry doorways that link the different parts of the castle. Two inscription stones mark the castle's history and its re-edification by Gualdim Pais (over the main gate), as well as its Christian history (from the cross carved into the space above an open window in the keep).
caption: Example of the crenellations of the outer enclosure
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