Alter do Chão Castle

Alter do Chão Castle, locally known as Castelo de Alter do Chão, lies in the town of the same name in the Alto Alentejo region in Portugal.

The predecessors of the current castle were probably a Roman fortification and certainly a Moorish fortification. The town was taken over by Christian forces in 1216 and its Moorish castle was first mentioned in 1232. Probably the Moorish castle was ruined in the takeover, for in 1249 the Portuguese aimed to rebuild it. The present Alter do Chão Castle was finally built by Peter I of Portugal in 1357, according to a dedicatory plaque above the entrance.

Later, in 1428, the town and its castle went to the general Nuno Álvares Pereira. After his death it passed to his daughter and then, through marriage, to the Duke of Braganza, Afonso I, in 1432. Afonso then had restoration works carried out. A later Duke of Braganza used the castle as a prison, in the last quarter of the 15th century.

During the Portuguese Restoration War, in the mid-17th century, the northeast wall was turned into a gun emplacement. Despite this modernization, the castle and town of Alter do Chão were taken by Spanish troops under John of Austria in 1662.

In the 1950s, the castle was acquired and subsequently restored by the Casa de Bragança Foundation, who still own it.

Alter do Chão Castle can be visited for a small fee during business hours. A beautiful castle in a sleepy town.

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