Cultural places in Portugal

Castle • Sesimbra, Setúbal

Perched above the bay, Sesimbra Castle is the last Portuguese castle over the sea to preserve its medieval layout, and that singular quality is felt at once in its walls opening towards the horizon. Of Islamic origin, it passed through conquest and reconquest until it was definitively secured on the Christian side at the beginning of the thirteenth century, when the town received its charter; soon afterwards, it was entrusted to the Order of Santiago, which strengthened the enclosure and its defensive role. Throughout the Middle Ages, it was a key stronghold in guarding the coast, but from the fifteenth century onwards the population gradually moved down towards the bay, drawn by fishing and shipbuilding. Today, as you walk through the alcáçova, the keep, the wall walk and the church within the ramparts, that long shift of centre and outlook becomes clear. Above all, linger over the view: between the town and the sea, Sesimbra seems to tell its whole story at once.

Church • Sesimbra, Setúbal

At the western edge of the municipality of Sesimbra, Cabo Espichel is striking for the way it brings together faith, vertigo and geological time. Devotion to Our Lady of the Cape is documented at least from 1366, and the sanctuary seen today, rare for its planned composition of church, forecourt and long pilgrims’ lodgings, took shape mainly between 1701 and 1770. The Ermida da Memória marks the place where, according to tradition, the image of the Virgin appeared in 1410, an episode that fed centuries of pilgrimages and cireos that are still alive today. But the cape does not speak only of pilgrims. On the limestone cliffs of Pedra da Mua, tracks of Jurassic sauropod dinosaur footprints survive, as if the landscape held a memory far older than the human one. Between the constant wind, the austere Baroque complex and the Atlantic stretching into the distance, Espichel feels like a place where devotion and nature enlarge one another.

Museum • Sesimbra, Setúbal

The Maritime Museum of Sesimbra, housed in the Fortress of Santiago, presents the town’s long relationship with the sea and fishing. Opened to the public in 2016, it forms part of the Municipal Museum of Sesimbra and organises its route through several spaces within the fortress. The exhibition brings together material heritage and memories collected with the fishing community, giving voice to the knowledge of seafarers. Among the oldest objects are an anchor stock around five thousand years old, and hooks and net weights dated between 2500 and 200 BC. The route addresses fishermen’s journeys, routes, fishing grounds, fishing techniques, boatbuilding, maritime devotions, the Professor Luiz Saldanha Marine Park and the relationship of King Carlos with Sesimbra. With models, films, documents and interactive technology, the museum turns local history into a narrative of work, identity and continuity.