Almourol Castle, Vila Nova da Barquinha

A small island, in the Tagus River, embraces this castle, one of the most emblematic medieval military monuments of the Christian Reconquest, and which recalls the history of the Templars in our country. Archaeological excavations inside have uncovered traces of Roman and Middle Age occupation. With the extinction of the Order of the Templars, the castle lost its military and strategic function and was therefore abandoned.

Built on a granite outcrop 18 metres above water level, on a small island measuring 310 metres long and 75 metres wide, in the middle course of the Tagus River, a little below its confluence with the Zêzere River, at the time of the Reconquest it was part of the so-called Tagus Line, currently the Templar Tourism Region. 

At the time of the Christian Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula, when this region was occupied by Portuguese forces, Almourol was conquered in 1129 by D. Afonso Henriques (1112-1185). The sovereign handed it over to the knights of the Order of Knights Templar, who were then in charge of populating the territory between the Mondego River and the Tagus, and the defence of Coimbra, Portugal’s capital at the time. 

During this phase, the castle was rebuilt, acquiring, in general terms, its current features, which are characteristic of Templar architecture: quadrangular spaces, high walls, reinforced by adjoining towers. It had 9 towers and a higher one and in the window facing the east there is a Templar cross. Dominated by a keep. An epigraphic plaque, placed over the main gate, states that its works were completed in 1171, two years after the completion of Tomar Castle.

Victim of the 1755 earthquake, the structure was damaged and further alterations were made during the Romantic period of the 19th century. During this phase, and in line with the then current philosophy of valuing the works of the past in the light of an ideal poetic vision, the castle was subject to decorative alterations, including the uniform crowning of the walls with battlements and merlons.

The castle was handed over to the Portuguese Army in the second half of the 19th century, under the responsibility of the commander of the Practical School of Engineering in Tancos, to which it is still attached.

The construction, in granite masonry and mortar masonry, is irregular in plan (organic), reflecting the irregularity of the terrain, and has a division intotwo levels, a lower exterior level and a higher interior level.

On the islet, other paths were built, allowing not only the path that embraces the castle, but also the possibility of glimpsing the surrounding landscape from various perspectives.