Castelo de São Jorge (Lisboa)
N 38° 42.819 W 009° 08.022
29S E 488376 N 4285009
Medieval castle "Castelo de São Jorge", located on the hill above the historic centre of Portugese metropolis Lisbon (Lisboa), dominates the city and also offers to its visitors beautiful vistas...
Waymark Code: WMBEB6
Location: Lisboa, Portugal
Date Posted: 05/11/2011
Views: 39
Medieval castle "Castelo de São Jorge", located on the hill above the historic centre of Portugese metropolis Lisbon (Lisboa), dominates the city and also offers to its visitors beautiful vistas...
Probably best-known castle in Portugal, Lisbon’s Castelo de Sao Jorge (St. George Castle) dominates the metropilis from its perch on top of the highest of Lisbon’s seven hills. Today, tourists often visiting the the Castelo de Sao Jorge for its panoramic views of the city and surrounding countryside.
The locality where You can nowadays find castle, has been fortified at least since the time of the Romans. A Visigoth fortress on the site of Castelo de São Jorge fell to the Saracens in the 8th century, as the Moorish invaders conquered the castles of Portugal and sought to dominate the entire Iberian Peninsula.
The Moors built much of the surviving structure of the Castelo de Sao Jorge. In 1147, as part of the Second Crusade, Christian soldiers led by Dom Afonso Henriques besieged the castle and expelled the Moors from Lisbon. Soon, the Christian Reconquista had retaken other castles of Portugal and the Castelo de Sao Jorge helped defend the retaken territories from Moorish counterattacks. In later years, the fortress served to protect the Portuguese monarchy from attacks by its stronger neighbors in Castilia...
In 1910 the castle complex was declared a Monumento Nacional and restoration work began. Today you can find here also Museum dealing with the castle and city history.