Reopens the Castle of Leiria, in Portugal.
Leiria Castle has just reopen its doors to the public after three years of renovation works and it has done so with new and functional elements (elevators, an amphitheater and rest areas), which are thus added to the impressive medieval structures that make up this Portuguese defensive bastion built in the 12th century.
which has been one of the largest investments in heritage conservation in Portugal has also focused its attention on rehabilitating some parts of the interior of the fortress, such as the medieval tanks or the church of Pena (now covered), built next to the Torre del Homenaje, inside the Alcazaba, at the highest point of the promontory from which El Castillo de Leiria dominates the landscape.
It should be remembered that the region was a strategic point of invasions, conquests and reconquests –both Muslim and Christian– until becoming a prosperous economic center in the 13th century.
The Pena church has been covered.
The current appearance of the Castle of Leiria -so fairytale- in reality we owe it, in part, to the architect Ernesto Korrodi, who at the end of the 19th century was in charge of the reconstruction project, a heritage intervention that was not exempt from criticism, since its historicist style, although based on existing remains, greatly altered its appearance: the medieval castle took the forms of a late gothic residential palace. You just have to look at the Gothic archery of the Paços Novos, facing south, with views of the city: very romantic for some and distorted from the original for others.
Walls, towers, barbicans and other alterations made by Korrofi and the Liga dos Amigos do Castelo were demolished by the Estado Novo during the first half of the 20th century in order to concretize the national ideological vision, more minimalist, military and austere.
New and functional elements have been added.
Romanesque, Gothic and the restorative currents of the late 19th and early 20th centuries converge in a balanced way in this castle that towers over the city of Leiria, in the center of Portugal, and that can be seen from almost anywhere in the city.
A powerful elevation that has traditionally served to unleash folk legends, like the one that ensures that under its structure there is a secret passage that connects it with a nearby church or even rests on a dormant volcano Be that as it may, what we are grateful for is that, at last, Leiria Castle has reawakened in the 21st century.
Address: Rua do Castelo, 2400-235 Leiria See map
Schedule: April to September: from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. / October to March: 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Half price: Adult: €2.10 / Children up to 10 years old: free