Castelo de Beja

In the centre of Beja, Beja Castle rises above the vast plain of the Baixo Alentejo and gathers the city’s defensive memory. The monument, classified as a National Monument since 1910, was rebuilt during the reign of King Afonso III; the works continued in the time of King Dinis and, in 1372, King Fernando was still ordering interventions in the fortress. From the Afonso-Dinis alcazaba stands out the Keep, quadrangular and robust, built during the reign of King Dinis. Almost forty metres high, it is organised in three levels and crowned by a broad balcony resting on machicolations, above which run battlements. The urban wall was more extensive: it included more than forty towers and gates such as those of Évora, Mértola, Avis and Aljustrel. Between walls, wall-walks and pale stone, the castle conveys Beja’s former strategic importance.