Castelo de Vila Viçosa - Castles on Waymarking.com

Vila Viçosa Castle is located in the village with the same name in Alentejo, Portugal.
Is located in the Northeast side of Serra de Ossa in a hill defended by 2 small rivers, the Ribeira de Ficalho and the Ribeira do Carrascal.
There aren´t much information about when it was ocupied by the first time, but, by some stones found in the area its possible that it is used since the Roman ocupation. And, its very close to a roman road that connects Évora to Mérida (to major roman cities of those times).
At the time of the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula the region was ocupied after 1217.
We dont know if it was a late settlement or not, but, the village only got his Royal Chart in 1270.
It was then that the castle was built.
After the 1383-1385 crisis the castle was donated by the King D. João I to D. Nuno Alvares Pereira as a reward for his services.
Later the village was donated to his grandson D. Fernando, Count of Arraiolos in 1422. Later he become the 2nd Duke of Bragança. Being used to the Alentejo planes he didn´t want to move to the North so he inproved the castle and the village became the headquarters of the Duchy of Bragança.
His son, the 3rd Duke of Bragança was acused of treason and sentenced to death while his family moved away to Spain abandoning the Castle where they lived.
When they returned, the Duke, D. Jaime de Bragança didn´t want to live in a place that remind him the trajic end of his father so, in 1501 he build a Palace to live (the Paço Ducal ). Still, he made inprovements in the castle, new towers and a defensive ditch.
During the Restoration War (Guerra da Restauração) a new set of walls star shapped was built (1663/64). This ones were adapted to modern artillery. This has allowed the village to defend himself from the spanish invaders that were completely defeated in the Montes Claros Battle in 1665.

The Castle was classified as a National Monument in 1910. It had several repairs during the XX century serving as an hotel for a few years. it bellongs to the House of Bragança Foundation and it´s the house of the a Hunt Museum and an Archeologic Museum.

Accessibility: Partial access Condition: Intact Admission Charge?: no Website: Not listed

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   10/10/2011 Daniel C visited it 02/26/2011 Kelux visited it 04/03/2010 viperunderground visited it 08/12/2009 isioux visited it 04/01/2001 manchanegra visited it

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