Juromenha Fortress

Juromenha Fortress, locally known as Fortaleza de Juromenha, lies in the village of the same name in the Alentejo Central region in Portugal.

The site of the fortress; a hill on the right bank of the Guadiana River overlooking a crossing, has been used since Celtiberian and Roman times.

Later, after the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in the early 8th century, it became an Umayyad property. Juromenha Castle and its town were first conquered by Christian forces under Afonso I of Portugal in 1167. They were retaken by the Almohad caliph Yaqub al-Mansur in 1191. It only definitively became a Christian property after it was conquered by Portuguese forces in 1242.

In an attempt to repopulate the settlement, Denis of Portugal, granted it its first charter and strengthened the castle in 1312.

During the Portuguese Restoration War, in the mid-17th century, Juromenha Castle became an important Portuguese border fortification, as the Guadiana had become the border between Portugal and Spain and a Spanish invasion became imminent. Thus, to adapt the medieval castle to the advances in artillery, the fortification was turned into a formidable fortress with bastions and ravelins by the French military engineer Nicolas de Langres.

In 1659, while work was still in progress, the gunpowder magazine exploded, destroying large parts of the old castle and newly built structures.

Juromenha Fortress was attacked and taken in 1662, by Spanish forces led by its builder De Langres, who had gone over to the Spanish. It was returned to the Portuguese Crown in 1668.

The 1755 Lisbon earthquake severely damaged the fortifications, which were then repaired and expanded.

During the War of the Oranges, in 1801, the fortress was handed over to Spanish troops without resistance by its governor. It returned into Portuguese hands in 1808. Later during that century, it gradually lost its military importance and was finally abandoned in 1920, after which it fell to ruin.

Since 2021 the fortress is being restored, and I read that there are plans to turn part of it into a hotel.

At present, Juromenha Fortress is still closed to visitors because of the restoration works. I could find no information about a proposed date for its reopening. A nice combination of a ruined medieval castle and a 17th century fortress in a quiet border village.

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