Ouguela Castle

Category: Military Architecture > Castle

District: Portalegre > Campo Maior > Ouguela > São João Baptista

Location

Ouguela Castle is situated on a high point in the small locality of the same name, belonging to the parish of São João Baptista, in the municipality of Campo Maior. Its strategic position, near the right bank of the Xévora river, places it a few kilometres from the Spanish border.

From the top of its walls, the view extends over the Alentejo landscape, allowing one to glimpse the Spanish fortification of Albuquerque on the horizon, underlining its importance as a sentinel of the borderland throughout the centuries.

History and Transformation

The occupation of this site has very ancient roots, dating back to a pre-Roman hillfort, having subsequently been occupied by Romans, Visigoths, and Muslims. With Ouguela's definitive integration into the Portuguese kingdom by the Treaty of Alcanices in 1297, King D. Dinis recognized the strategic importance of the site.

D. Dinis granted a Foral (charter) to the village in 1298 and ordered the reconstruction of its defences. Throughout the Middle Ages, the castle was adapted and expanded. In the 17th century, during the War of Restoration, the fortification was modernized with the introduction of bastions, prepared to face the artillery of the time, transforming its appearance and functionality.

Military Architecture

The castle presents an irregular polygonal plan, resulting from the superposition of different constructive periods. It is possible to observe the combination of elements of medieval military architecture, such as walls with turrets, with the modern bastioned structures of the 17th and 18th centuries.

The walls are built of local stone, predominantly granite and schist. The main entrance, facing north, is particularly interesting, protected by a half-bastion and featuring a gate with a broken arch, flanked by towers, where the defence mechanisms of the time can still be seen. The wall-walk, the sentry path at the top of the walls, is in good condition over a large part of the perimeter.

Ouguela in Border Defence

The border location of Ouguela Castle conferred upon it a fundamental role in the defence of Portugal, serving as the stage for important confrontations. One of the most famous episodes occurred in 1644, in the context of the War of Restoration. A small garrison, supported by the population, heroically resisted a siege by much more numerous Spanish forces, in an act that became symbolic of the borderland's resistance.

In the 19th century, after the demilitarization of the stronghold, part of the area of the bastioned structures on the western side began to be used as the village cemetery, a use that endures and adds an unusual dimension to the history of the place.

License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.pt