Sunday, August 1, 2021

Penedono Castle - Portugal


I fell in love with this castle when I saw an image of it for the 1st time. That was long time ago and iIfinally had the opportunity to visit it in 2011. It's a very small and unique castle, really worth to visit. 
This week Oscar sent me a fantastic postcard from there and now I just feel like visiting it again.
I have more postcards from this castle but these are my favourites. The snowy postcard was sent by Margarida.

Penedono castle is located in the Portuguese district of Viseu, in the west central part of Portugal. 

Libório Manuel Silva
The oldest documentary reference dates back to 960. But it can be even earlier than that, once parallel rows were found the in the base structure, typical of Arabic constructions, showing a first construction.
It is a small castle with the features of polygonal a castellated house, forming an irregular hexagon. It is built about 930m high upon a lot of cyclopean granite outcrops; it circumference is about 70m and has turrets in the corners, fitted with boulders and flanking the single access in a broken arc. It still has the tank, a patrol path and typical benches called "conversadeiras" in its interior, which indicate the existence of an intermediate floor.

This unusual example of Gothic military architecture is associated with the mythical figure of the "Magriço", Álvaro Gonçalves Coutinho, born in Penedono, immortalized by Camões in his epic work "The Lusíadas", which narrates the feats and achievements of the Twelve of England. 
The castle was listed as a National Monument on June 16, 1910. - in: http://www.portoenorte.pt

1 comment:

agi said...

that looks lovely! will have to include it in my next trip ;)