Barbacena Castle

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

Barbacena Castle was founded during the reign of Afonso III of Portugal (1248-79), after the settlement was conquered from the Moors, earlier that century. Later, in 1519, Manuel I of Portugal ordered the rebuilding of the castle, as it was in a bad state of repair, apparently.

Manuel's order was only executed in 1536, under the reign of his successor John III, by a D. Jorge Henriques, who was a huntsman to John III. Three years after the death of D. Jorge in 1572, the castle was purchased by Diogo de Castro do Rio, a knight in the Military Order of Christ.

In the mid-17th century, during the Portuguese Restoration War, the defenses of Barbacena were modernized by constructing bastions around the medieval core to protect it from Castilian attacks. Its medieval keep had already disappeared earlier that century. The castle was attacked in 1645 and again in 1658, when its garrison had to surrender to the troops of the Duke of Ossuna.

The defenses of Barbacena Castle were kept up to date and in the first 2 decades of the 18th century, during the War of the Spanish Succession, it was again attacked several times by Spanish forces. During the 19th century it was transformed into a nobleman's residence, and it was probably abandoned in the early 20th century.

Barbacena Castle can not be accessed and seems still to be abandoned. From the public road it is hard to see its layout, from the air its interesting bastioned layout can be better admired.

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