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GPS 40.920858764702345, -8.54268182054197

Castelo da Feira, also referred to as Castelo de Santa Maria da Feira and Castelo de Santa Maria, is located in the parish and city of Feira, municipality of Santa Maria da Feira, district of Aveiro, in Portugal.

Once head of Terra de Santa Maria, ex libris of the Fair, it is considered one of the most complete examples of medieval military architecture in the country, since it represents the wide range of defensive elements employed in the period.

Feira Castle was classified as a National Monument by Decree of June 16, 1910 published by DG nº 136, of June 23, 1910.

History

Background

Although the primitive human occupation of this site dates back to prehistoric times, it acquired greater relevance when the Lusitanians built a temple here in honor of the deity Bandeve-Lugo Tueræus. After the Roman Invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, the road that connected Olissipo (Lisbon) to Bracara Augusta (Braga) passed through here, according to archaeological testimonies that refer this occupation to the period of the Low Empire.

At the time of the Christian Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula, this pagan religious center was transformed into a Marian center, developing here a regional fair, whose high expression would give the name to the place: Feira de Santa Maria.

The first documentary reference to its fortification appears in the manuscript "Chronica Gothorum" (anonymous, late 12th century), which reports the victory of Bermudo III of León (1028-1037) over a Moorish chief in the lands of the Castle of Santa Maria (1045). The construction of the lower part of the Torre de Menagem with functions as a citadel dates back to this period, protected by a walled fence, of which only the vestiges remain.

The medieval castle

When D. Henrique (1095-1112) received the lands of the Portucalense County (1095), these included the domains not only of this Castle of Santa Maria, but also the Castle of Guimarães, the Castle of Faria and the Castle of Neiva. With the death of the Count, given the ascendancy of the Galician Fernão Peres de Trava over his widow, D. Teresa de Leão, the lords south of the Minho River, dissatisfied, organized themselves around the young D. Afonso Henriques, who, in that Meanwhile, he was knighted (1125).

An expressive part of this political articulation took place in the lands and Castle of Santa Maria, under the domain of the nobleman Ermígio Moniz, culminating in the battle of São Mamede (Guimarães, 1128), which is why this monument is said to be the true cradle of the independence of Portugal. Portugal. The lands of Santa Maria comprised, at the time, an extensive domain that extended, in broad lines, from the course of the Douro River to the south of Ovar and Oliveira de Azeméis, and from the seafront to the course of the Arda River.

In the will of Sancho I of Portugal (1185-1211), drawn up in 1188, this was the main of the five castles chosen by the sovereign as a possible refuge for the queen, when she was a widow, and the princesses.

In 1282, Dinis I of Portugal (1279-1325) included it among the twelve castles secured as an arras to his consort, Queen Santa Isabel. Later, still in this period, it was taken by the forces of Infante D. Afonso, in a fight against the sovereign, his father. When peace was celebrated between the two, on the initiative of the Holy Queen (1322), the domain of this castle (among others) was granted to D. Afonso, through the commitment of homage given by the latter to his father.

Later, in 1357, the noble Gonçalo Garcia de Figueiredo was its mayor.

Fernando I of Portugal (1367-1383) donated the Terras de Santa Maria and its castle to D. João Afonso Telo de Meneses, Count of Barcelos (September 10, 1372), who appointed D. Martim as mayor of the castle Belt.

The Avis Dynasty

When the Crisis of 1383-1385 broke out in Portugal, the Count of Barcelos sided with Castile, an attitude followed by the mayor of the castle. In 1385, the castle and domains were conquered by the mayor of Penedono Castle, Gonçalo Vasques Coutinho, with the help of resources and people from Porto, to be handed over to João I of Portugal, who in turn handed them over to D. Álvaro Pereira (cousin of Constable D. Nuno Álvares Pereira) (April 8). Later, the sovereign granted the castle and its domains to João Rodrigues de Sá.

From the 17th to the 19th centuries

In the 17th century, the Palacete dos Condes da Feira was built inside the walls, demolished in 1929, and of which only a few walls, the staircase and the fountain remain. From the same period is the construction of the Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Encarnação, over another, older one, of the same invocation, on the initiative of D. Joana Forjaz Pereira de Meneses e Silva, countess of Feira, inaugurated in 1656.

After the representation of the Counts of Feira was extinguished (1700), the set became part of the property of the Casa do Infantado (1708). On January 15, 1722, a violent fire devastated the property, sending it to a long period of abandonment and ruin.

In the 19th century, a timid recovery of the monument began: with the end of the Portuguese Civil War (1828-1834), the property and attached land were acquired at public auction by General Francisco Xavier da Silva Pereira (1835). Also noteworthy in this period were the visit by members of the Portuguese royal family (1852), and the removal of rubbish from the castle's old well, at the initiative of the City Council (1887).

From the 20th century to our days

At the beginning of the 20th century, public interest in the monument was renewed. A public subscription campaign raised funds for restoration work on the property, whose ruins were now guarded by a guard. During this period, Drs. Gonçalves Coelho and Vaz Ferreira discovered three epigraphic inscriptions.

The first recovery works were carried out by the Directorate of Public Works (1907), visited by Manuel II of Portugal (1908-1910) the following year. In 1909, a Commission for the Protection and Conservation of the Castle was created, with improvements and restoration works carried out at the expense of Fortunato Fonseca.

From 1927, visits to the monument began to be paid. The General Directorate of National Buildings and Monuments (DGEMN) carried out consolidation and restoration works in the periods of 1935-1936, 1939-1944 and in 1986. A new access was opened since 1950, and the exterior lighting of the monument was inaugurated in 1963 , works that valued him.

In 2022 it will be subject to works, budgeted at around 700 thousand euros, starting in September, for structural consolidation and rehabilitation of the respective wall before other interventions planned for the building. The intervention is 85% covered by community funds and should take 12 months. The priority is, on the one hand, to consolidate the castle wall, "which in certain areas is at risk of falling", mainly due to anomalies resulting from humidity and irregularities in the foundations", and, on the other hand, to rehabilitate the ruin of the palace still visible in the main square, in concrete of the manor house that was built there in the 17th century and that shortly afterwards would be destroyed by a fire. spiral staircase.It is also planned to create replicas of "medieval furniture and complementary artefacts", so that the interior spaces of the property can be decorated in the style of its period of greatest activity.

Vila da Feira became a city, under the name of Santa Maria da Feira, by Decree-law n° 39 of August 14, 1985.

Characteristics

The set features an irregular oval plan, oriented north-south, in the Gothic style, having incorporated elements from other styles over the centuries.

With walls in masonry and stonework, from the early period, the Keep dominates the citadel; from the end of the 15th century, date the adaptations to the demands of pyrobalistics. Inside, in the wide square of arms, there are still traces of the old 17th century palace.

The barbican door, crowned by the coat of arms of the Pereiras, is protected by two adjacent quadrangular towers: to the southwest, the Torre da Casamata, behind which is a quadrangular and vaulted enclosure where the soldiers were housed and which served as a battery with turrets on the walls. exterior; on the opposite side, the Torre do Poço, protecting a water source, which is accessed by descending a spiral staircase.

Through the barbican door, you access, successively, the village door and the main square, where the Keep is located. This fortress-tower rises on three floors: on the lower floor, the cistern; in the second, the noble hall, highlighting three fireplaces, a stove and four windows, three of them with talkers; on the third the intimate residential area.

After the Torre de Menagem, topped with conical spires, the visitor finds the tenalha, preceded by the so-called patio of betrayal (where the respective door opens). On the opposite side of the tenalha, adjacent to the wall of the fence, stands the chapel, with a hexagonal plan, under the invocation of Nossa Senhora da Encarnação, and the Casa da Chaplaincy, in baroque style.