page_title: Portuguese Romanesque architecture
section_title: Castles
hierarchical_section_title: Portuguese Romanesque architecture / Civil and military architecture / Castles
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Vue sur le chateau de Celorico de Basto
context_page_description: The Romanesque style of architecture was introduced in Portugal between the end of the 11th and the beginning of the 12th century. In general, Portuguese cathedrals have a heavy, fortress-like appearance, with crenellations and few decorative elements apart from portals and windows. Portuguese Romanesque cathedrals were later extensively modified, among others the Old Cathedral of Coimbra, although it only had some minor changes.
  Chronological and geographical distribution of Romanesque buildings in Portugal are intimately connected with the territorial organization emerging from the Reconquista, being the fundamental reason for the differences between a locally influenced artistical phenomenon in the North of the country and a more "international" kind in buildings like Coimbra and Lisbon cathedrals. Romanesque architecture first developed in Minho and Douro regions spreading later southwards to Coimbra. It is in the rural areas of the northwest and center regions that Romanesque buildings are more concentrated, being more dense in the margins of rivers Douro and Mondego.
context_section_description: In Portugal, castles are directly related with military needs and the state of continuous warfare characterised by the Reconquista. Populations living closer of the border between Christians and Muslims were under threat of constant raids and the advance of either sides in pursue of territorial conquest. The region more precociously fortified was the area south of the Douro river, where in the 10th century almost all the population centers had their castle. The majority of these defensive positions, the rural castles, were of very simple structure and took advantage of natural conditions such as high places with granite outcrops, that made access difficult. During the next three centuries (10th to 13th centuries) we witness a boom of castles due to the ever-growing necessity to provide a territorial passive defense.
  The strength of a Romanesque castle sits in the thickness and height of its walls in order to resist sieges. The Allure or round-path (Portuguese: Adarve) was intertwinned with towers in order to break continuous cloths of wall and in the 12th century other outer sets of walls were built next to castles themselves to shelter populations and cattle as attested in the Castle of Castro Laboreiro.
  The Romanesque castle testifies to the triumph of rural nobility and is also the symbol of a territory's safety. During this period it consisted of a wall with allures, battlements and a central tower: the Keep, symbol of feudal power, and the biggest innovation to the fortress. This element has its origins in the domus fortis, the strengthened noble residence.
  Between the North and the South of Portugal, particularly in the regions defined by the margins of the Mondego and Tejo Rivers, there are notable differences in military structures. In the North castles have a more basic structure and are very tied to fortifications typified in pre-Romanesque era. Going southwards castles display more advanced techniques in the field of military architecture. The strategic area was then concentrated on the border with the Moors where the Military Orders would play a key role. In the North we can find the castles of Lanhoso, Castro Laboreiro, Lindoso, Melgaço, Arnoia, Pena de Aguiar, Trancoso, Vilar Maior, and the most outstanding Guimarães Castle. This fortress, documented since around 950 AD, had undergone restoration works during the reign of D.Afonso Henriques and later changes in its layout in the Gothic period.
  Built under the tenure of Gualdim Pais as Master of the Knights Templar (1157–1195), the castles of Pombal (c.1156), Tomar (1160), Monsanto (1165), Penas Roias (1166), Almourol (1171) and Longroiva (1174) demonstrate the importance of the Templars in the development of Portuguese military architecture during the second half of the 12th century. The first document stating the Knights Templar presence in Portugal dates back to 1128, when Queen D.Teresa donated them the castle of Soure. Its keep, built on the north side of the fortress, retains a distinctive feature: the Alambor, a reinforced base for the tower using a stone-slanted ramp. This solution gives it greater strength and makes an assault on its walls harder to accomplish. This feature can also be seen in the Keep of Pombal Castle.
  At Tomar Castle, headquarters of the order in Portugal, the alambor was built along the outer walls of the fortification. With origins in the military architecture developed by the Crusaders in the Holy Land, this constructive technique was used in the castle of Saône and the Krak des Chevaliers, both located in Syria, where Gualdim Pais was stationed between 1151 and 1156. It owns to the Templar Order some of the most innovative solutions that the Portuguese military architecture met throughout the 12th century.
caption: Arnoia Castle, built in the late 11th century, offered protection to a nearby monastery.
exif: {"Image Make": "FUJIFILM", "Image Model": "FinePix J10", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Digital Camera FinePix J10 Ver1.00", "Image DateTime": "2009:07:02 18:21:45", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "286", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1512", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3982", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/450", "EXIF FNumber": "26/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:07:02 18:21:45", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:07:02 18:21:45", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "881/100", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4757/1000", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "64/25", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "297/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "93/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3264", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2448", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1364", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "5712", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "5712", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}