Location: Evoramonte, Évora District Map
Constructed: 1160
Evoramonte Castle is a medieval fortifications in the town of
Evoramonte, Évora District in Portugal. Although the site of
Evoramonte Castle was inhabited since prehistoric times, the history
of the castle begins in 1160 then Portuguese armies under leadership
of Gerard Fearless defeated Moors (Arabs) and constructed their
citadel to secure their possession of the newly acquired lands. It
seems that military fortifications were reconstructed in the early
14th century and again in the 16th century after devastating
earthquake of 1531. Bishop Theodosius of Braganza order construction
of a palace in a style of an Italian Renaissance. Over time the
castle lost much of its military importance, but it remained a
powerful symbol of national pride and history.
Evoramonte Castle played an important role in Portuguese history as
this was the site of signing of Concession of Evoramonte (or
Convention of Evoramonte) on May 26, 1834 by Dom Pedro IV and Dom
Miguel I. This document ended Civil War (1828- 34) between
Constitutionalists and the Miguelites or Absolutists (as in Absolute
Monarchy). Dom Miguel was forced to leave Portugal, while the first
became an undisputed ruler of the land. In 1910 castle was
designated as a National Monument under special protection from a
government.
Background
It is believed that the primitive human occupation of
this site dates back to prehistory.
the medieval castle
At the
time of the Christian Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula, the village
was conquered from the Moors by the Portuguese forces commanded by the
legendary Geraldo Sem Pavor, around 1160, when the castle began.
Its defenses were recovered by order of D. Afonso III (1248-1279),
sovereign who granted it the first charter (1248), renewed in 1271.
These attempts at settlement, however, do not seem to have been
successful, since his successor, D. Dinis (1279-1325), ordered the
fortification of the village (1306), from whom the fence and the gates
came to us.
With the accession of D. João, Master of Avis to the
throne, the Castle of Evoramonte and its domains passed to the
possession of Constable D. Nuno Álvares Pereira, later coming to
integrate the domains of the House of Bragança and the House of
Bragança-Saxe -Coburg and Gotha.
At the beginning of the Modern
Age, King Manuel I of Portugal (1495-1521) granted the town a Foral Novo
(1516), initiating a new construction phase. As the keep of the old
castle was destroyed by the earthquake of 1531, the following year,
under the direction of the chief mayor, D. Teodósio de Bragança, it was
rebuilt in the form of an Italian Renaissance-inspired Palace, with a
risk attributed to the architects Diogo and Francisco de Arruda.
From the 19th century to the present day
The village and its castle
lost strategic importance over the centuries. Here the Convention of
Evoramonte was signed (May 26, 1834) ending the Liberal Wars. Finally,
on the 24th of October 1855, the municipality was definitively extinct,
and its former term was shared by the neighboring municipalities of
Estremoz, Évora, Arraiolos and Redondo.
Consolidation and
restoration work began at the end of the 1930s and continued in the
1940s. New intervention campaigns followed one another from 1971 to
1987, giving the monument its current appearance.
In 2021, it
ceased to be under the tutelage of the Government, passing to the
responsibility of the Chamber.
The castle, in stone masonry and granite ashlar, has a quadrangular plan, with circular turrets at the corners, mixing Gothic elements with the Italian-inspired Renaissance style. Internally, it is divided into three floors, with vaulted ceilings, based on ashlar pillars. In the turrets wider at the base than at the top, visors are torn. The cloths are decorated with knots carved in stone, typical of the Manueline style.