Forte de São Miguel Arcanjo - Nazaré, Portugal
Posted by: 
tmob
N 39° 36.278 W 009° 05.071
29S E 492743 N 4383879
The Fort of São Miguel Arcanjo, also known as Fort of Morro da Nazaré, or just Forte of Nazaré, was declared as a public interest building on September 12th, 1978.
Waymark Code: WMDP67
Location: Leiria, Portugal
Date Posted: 02/09/2012
Views: 6
The primitive defense of the place dates back to the reign of D. Sebastião (1557-1578), who determined that there was erected a fort for the defense of the fishing village in the Pederneira hill of (1577), in whose port was shipped wood from Pinhal d'El Rey (Pinhal de Leiria) and whose yards have had major economic importance at the time.
These works, however, only moved forward in strength during the Philippine Dynasty, when the king D. Filipe II (1598-1621), around the year 1600, determined to rebuild the first fortress according to the plant of the deceased military engineer and architect Giovanni Vincenzo Casale.
Needing repairs in the early seventeenth century, at the time of the War of Restoration of Portuguese independence, the Crown ordered its modernization and expansion (1644), when it acquired its present configuration.
After its artillery pieces have been removed to the Square-Fort of Cascais, from 1807 was occupied by Napoleonic troops during the Peninsular War, with a detachment of 50 soldiers of the forces of General Junot. This regiment was expelled by the local population in the following year, having been prominent at the time a group of six students, with the uniform of Coimbra Academic Battalion, who tried to convince the invaders that had received reinforcements.
At the dawn of the twentieth century, in 1903, a lighthouse was installed in its premises, with the function of navigation aid in that stretch of coastline.
Between 1907 and 1941 were registered on the monument restoration work.
Although it's currently well preserved, the structure is under threat of collapse because of the advanced erosion process that undermines the side of the sea.
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