Alvito Castle ( port. Castelo de Alvito ) - a medieval castle in Portugal in the village of Alvitu , Beja district. The castle (in another opinion - a fortified palace) dominates the plain northwest of the city of Beja .
| Castle | |
| Alvitu Castle | |
|---|---|
| Castelo de alvito | |
 Alvita Castle Donjon | |
| A country |  Portugal |
| Village | Alvita , Beja |
| Architectural style | |
| Building | 1494 - 1504 years |
| Status | National monument |
| condition | good |
| Site | patrimoniocultural.pt/pt... |
History
The first mention of Alvit dates back to the reign of Afonso III ( 1248 - 1279 ), which the village bestowed on his dignitary Eshtevan Anesh in 1255 . Before his death in 1279 , without heirs, Anesh bequeathed Alvita the Order of the Trinity.
Dinish I ( 1279 - 1325 ) confirmed the rights of the Order to Alvita in 1280 , and since 1296 an annual fair has been held in the village.
In 1475 , Afonso V ( 1438 - 1481 ) granted the title of Baron to Alvit Juan Fernandes da Silveira, a royal official whose descendants received the title of Marquise. A few years later, in 1482 , Juan II ( 1481 - 1495 ) granted the baron the right to build a castle in Alvita. In accordance with the marble plate at the entrance gate, the construction of the castle began in 1494 and was completed in 1504 .
As a result of the earthquake of 1755 , the castle was seriously damaged and was reconstructed by 1777 . During the Miguelist Wars in 1834 , Alvitu Castle was attacked and damaged, which led to new restoration work. At the end of the century, in 1887 , the castle passed into the possession of Jose Lobo da Silveira Quarezhma and his wife, Carolina Augusta Duarte. In 1897 , Silveira sold the castle to the royal treasury, retaining the right to reside in it until his death and the death of his wife. After the death of the latter in 1936 , Alvitu Castle finally became state property.
On June 16, 1910 the castle was declared a national monument, and in 1915 was acquired by the Braganza Foundation. Since 1941 , restoration work has taken place in the castle, the battlements of the walls have been restored, and roofs have been repaired.
During the Carnations Revolution , a committee of Alvita residents was placed on the premises of the castle.
Between 1980 and 1981 , new measures were taken to repair the walls, restore plaster, roof, doors and window frames. Since 1993 in the premises of the castle there is a hotel (puzada).
Architecture
The castle is a mixture of elements of military architecture and the palace residence, combining the architectural traditions of Islam, Gothic and Manuelino .
The castle has a rectangular layout and four round towers in the corners. The upper part of the walls has a serrated parapet. A plate above the main gate indicates the start date for the construction of the castle - 1494 . Initially, it had a drawbridge over the moat, but pretty soon the moat was filled up, and the bridge was dismantled as unnecessary. The donjon of the castle has a square shape and is divided into three floors.