Location: Largo do Castelo, Aveiro District Map
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Castelo da Feira, also referred to as Castelo de Santa Maria da
Feira and Castelo de Santa Maria, is located in the parish and city
of Feira, municipality of Santa Maria da Feira, district of Aveiro,
in Portugal.
Once the head of Terra de Santa Maria, ex libris
of Feira, it is considered one of the most complete examples of
medieval military architecture in the country, since it represents
the wide range of defensive elements used in the period.
The
Feira Castle was classified as a National Monument by Decree of June
16, 1910 published by DG nº 136, of June 23, 1910.
Background
Although the primitive human occupation of its site
dates back to prehistory, it acquired greater relevance when the
Lusitanians built a temple here in honor of the deity Bandeve-Lugo
Tueræus. After the Roman invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, the road
that linked Olissipo (Lisbon) to Bracara Augusta (Braga) passed through
here, according to archaeological evidence that refers this occupation
to the period of the Low Empire.
At the time of the Christian
Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula, this pagan religious center was
transformed into a Marian center, developing here a regional fair, whose
high expression would give the place its name: Feira de Santa Maria.
The first documentary reference to its fortification appears in the
manuscript "Chronica Gothorum" (anonymous, late 12th century), which
reports the victory of Bermudo III of León (1028-1037) over a Moorish
chief in the lands of the Castle of Santa Maria (1045). ). The
construction of the lower part of the Keep, which functions as a
fortress, dates from this period, protected by a walled fence, of which
only the traces remain.
the medieval castle
When D. Henrique
(1095-1112) received the lands of the Condado Portucalense (1095), these
included the domains not only of this Castle of Santa Maria, but also of
Guimarães Castle, Faria Castle and Neiva Castle. With the death of the
Count, in view of the ascendancy of the Galician Fernão Peres de Trava
over his widow, D. Teresa de Leão, the lords south of the Minho River,
dissatisfied, organized themselves around the young D. Afonso Henriques,
who, in that In the meantime, knighted himself (1125).
A
significant part of this political articulation took place in the lands
and Castelo de Santa Maria, under the rule of the noble Ermígio Moniz,
culminating in the battle of São Mamede (Guimarães, 1128), which is why
this monument is claimed to be the true cradle of the independence of
Portugal. The lands of Santa Maria comprised, at the time, an extensive
domain that extended, in broad lines, from the course of the Douro River
to the south of Ovar and Oliveira de Azeméis, and from the seafront to
the course of the Arda River.
In the will of Sancho I of Portugal
(1185-1211), written in 1188, this was the main one of the five castles
chosen by the sovereign for the eventual refuge of the queen, when
widowed, and the infantas.
In 1282, Dinis I of Portugal
(1279-1325) included it among the twelve castles secured as arras to his
consort, Queen Santa Isabel. Later, still in this period, it was taken
by the forces of the Infante D. Afonso, in a fight against the
sovereign, his father. When peace was celebrated between the two, on the
initiative of the Holy Queen (1322), the domain of this castle (among
others) was granted to D. Afonso, through the commitment of homage given
by the latter to his father.
Later, in 1357, the nobleman Gonçalo
Garcia de Figueiredo was its mayor.
Fernando I of Portugal
(1367-1383) donated the Lands of Santa Maria and its castle to D. João
Afonso Telo de Meneses, Count of Barcelos (10 September 1372), who
established D. Martim as mayor of the castle Belt.
The Avis
Dynasty
When the Crisis of 1383-1385 broke out in Portugal, the Count
of Barcelos sided with Castile, an attitude followed by the mayor of the
castle. In 1385, the castle and the domains were conquered by the mayor
of the Castle of Penedono, Gonçalo Vasques Coutinho, with the help of
resources and people from Porto, to be handed over to João I of
Portugal, who in turn handed them over to D. Álvaro Pereira (cousin of
Constable D. Nuno Álvares Pereira) (April 8). Subsequently, the
sovereign granted the castle and its domains to João Rodrigues de Sá.
From the 17th to the 19th centuries
In the 17th century, the
Palacete dos Condes da Feira was built within the walls, demolished in
1929, of which only a few walls remain, the staircase and the fountain.
From the same period is the construction of the Chapel of Nossa Senhora
da Encarnação, over another, older, of the same invocation, on the
initiative of D. Joana Forjaz Pereira de Meneses e Silva, Countess of
Feira, inaugurated in 1656.
With the representation of the counts
of Feira extinct (1700), the ensemble passed into the heritage of Casa
do Infantado (1708). On January 15, 1722, a violent fire devastated the
property, leaving it in a long period of abandonment and ruin.
In
the 19th century, a timid recovery of the monument began: with the end
of the Portuguese Civil War (1828-1834), the property and annexed lands
were acquired at public auction by General Francisco Xavier da Silva
Pereira (1835). In this period, the visit by members of the Portuguese
royal family (1852) and the work of unearthing the old castle well, on
the initiative of the City Council (1887), also stand out.
From
the 20th century to the present day
At the beginning of the 20th
century, public interest in the monument was renewed. A public
subscription campaign raised funds for restoration work on the property,
whose ruins were now guarded by a guard. During this period, Drs.
Gonçalves Coelho and Vaz Ferreira discovered three epigraphic
inscriptions.
The first restoration works were carried out by the
Directorate of Public Works (1907), visited by Manuel II of Portugal
(1908-1910) the following year. In 1909, a Commission for the Protection
and Conservation of the Castle was created, and improvement and
restoration works were carried out at the expense of Fortunato Fonseca.
From 1927, visits to the monument began to be paid. The
Directorate-General for National Buildings and Monuments (DGEMN) carried
out consolidation and restoration works in the periods 1935-1936,
1939-1944 and 1986. A new access was opened in 1950, and the monument's
exterior lighting was inaugurated in 1963 , works that valued him.
In 2022, it will be subject to works, budgeted at around 700
thousand euros, starting in September, for structural consolidation and
rehabilitation of the respective wall before other interventions planned
for the building. The intervention is 85% reimbursed by community funds
and should take 12 months. The priority is, on the one hand, to
consolidate the castle wall, "which in certain areas is at risk of
falling", mainly due to anomalies resulting from humidity and
irregularities in the foundations", and, on the other hand, to
rehabilitate the ruin of the still visible in the square of arms, in the
concrete of the manor house that was built there in the 17th century and
that shortly after would be destroyed by fire. spiral staircase.The
creation of replicas of "medieval furniture and complementary artefacts"
is also planned, so that the interior spaces of the property can be
decorated in the style typical of its period of greatest activity.
Vila da Feira became the city, under the name of Santa Maria da
Feira, by Decree-law n° 39 of August 14, 1985.
The set features an irregular oval floor plan, oriented north-south,
in Gothic style, having incorporated elements from other styles over the
centuries.
With walls in masonry and stonework from the early
period, the Keep dominates the fortress; from the end of the 15th
century, the adaptations to the demands of pyroballistics date. Inside,
in the large square of arms, there are still the remains of the old 17th
century palace.
The barbican door, crowned by the coat of arms of
the Pereiras, is protected by two quadrangular towers joined together:
to the southwest, the Casamata Tower, behind which is a quadrangular and
vaulted enclosure where the soldiers were housed and which served as a
battery with embrasures on the walls. outdoors; opposite the Torre do
Poço, protecting a water source, which is accessed by descending a
spiral staircase.
Through the gate of the barbican, you can
successively access the gate of the village and the square of arms, in
which the Keep is located. This fortress-tower stands on three floors:
on the lower floor, the cistern; in the second, the main hall, with
three fireplaces, a stove and four windows, three of them with
conversation chairs; in the third the intimate residential area.
After the keep, topped with conical spires, visitors will find the
tenalha, preceded by the so-called betrayal patio (where the respective
door opens). On the opposite side of the tenalha, adjoined to the wall
of the fence, are the chapel, with a hexagonal plan, under the
invocation of Nossa Senhora da Encarnação, and the Casa da Chaplaincy,
in Baroque style.