page_title: Peniche Fortress
section_title: Recent history
hierarchical_section_title: Peniche Fortress / Recent history
caption_attribution_description: English: Peniche Fortress was used as a prison during Portugal's military dictatorship, the Estado Novo. Prisoners and visitors were told to speak loudly so that the guards could hear and to only talk about family matters
context_page_description: The Peniche Fortress is located in the municipality of Peniche in Leiria District, Portugal. Built on the site of the former Castle of Atouguia da Baleia, of which only a few vestiges remain, initial construction took place in 1557 and 1558 but there have been numerous subsequent modifications. Its defensive walls surround an area of two hectares, divided into upper and lower parts. The fortress has served a number of functions including that of a political prison during the authoritarian Estado Novo regime.
context_section_description: During the Second Boer War  (1899-1902), the fortress’s buildings were used to accommodate Boers who had sought refuge from the British in the Portuguese colony of Mozambique. During World War I (1914-1918), German and Austrian nationals were detained there. From 1928 the buildings were used as a tuberculosis sanatorium. However, in 1934, under the Estado Novo, or Second Republic, it was converted into a maximum-security political prison. In 1938 all buildings of the fortress were classified as a national monument, leading to some repair work being undertaken in subsequent years, in some cases making use of prisoners as labour. 
  The fortress became famous for two escapes by prisoners opposed to the authoritarian government. In December 1954, a Communist supporter, António Dias Lourenço, managed to squeeze through a 20cm x 40cm opening that he sawed in his cell door. He then attempted to descend 20 meters to the sea with a rope made with sheets torn into strips. However, the improvised rope broke, causing him to fall into the sea. Although being dragged by the waves he managed to reach land and escape with assistance from fishermen. On January 3, 1960, communist leaders Álvaro Cunhal, Francisco Martins Rodrigues and eight others connived with a member of the  National Republican Guard who agreed to immobilize with chloroform a colleague responsible for the surveillance of the prisoners. They also descended the walls with a rope made of sheets. This escape became a great embarrassment for the government, which claimed that a Soviet submarine had been near the Peniche coast waiting to pick up the escapees. During the Carnation Revolution on April 25, 1974, which led to the overthrow of the Estado Novo, the fortress was one of the main targets of the initial coup. 
  From 1977 to the early 1980s, in the context of the process of Portuguese decolonization in Africa, parts of the fortress were used as temporary accommodation for families returning from the overseas territories. After departure of the last returnees from the former colonies, a group of Peniche citizens, with the agreement of the City Council, developed a museum in the fortress dedicated to the anti-fascist resistance. Improvements in 1984 made it possible to visit the cell where the secretary general of the Portuguese Communist Party, Álvaro Cunhal, had been held, as well as the location of his escape. Further repairs and improvements to the fortress were made in the 1990s. Plans in 2008 to use part of the fortress as a hotel (as has been done, for example, in the Citadel of Cascais) did not materialize. Further repairs to the fortress were made between 2010 and 2013 but it remained in an advanced state of degradation. In 2016 it was included on a list of national monuments to be granted to private bodies under a programme (REVIVE) designed to promote private investment for tourism purposes but was withdrawn after two months following popular opposition to the idea. In November 2017 it was closed to visitors to permit further work to be carried out.
  A sum of €3.5mn was allocated in April 2017 in the Portuguese budget for repairs and preparation of museum spaces and a tender for the design was completed in early 2018. On 2 May 2019 an exhibition at the Fortress was opened by the Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa, designed to give an indication of the types of exhibits that will be available when the museum, to be known as the National Museum of Resistance and Freedom (Museu Nacional da Resistência e da Liberdade), is completed.
caption: The visiting room for prisoners
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