Redondo Castle

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

The first fortification on this height in the Alentejo plain was a Roman fortress. Afonso III of Portugal issued a charter to the settlement of Redondo in 1250 and ordered a new castle to be built on top of the Roman ruins.

In 1312, during the reign of Denis of Portugal, the castle was reconstructed. It then had an irregular oval plan, with 2 gates, one in the northeast corner, called the Porte da Ravessa or do Sol, and one in the southwest corner, called the Porta do Postigo (or Relogio, after a clocktower was erected on one of its towers). A tower in the middle of the southeast curtain wall, called the Torre de Alcaidaria, served as a keep.

During the 15th century the Torre de Alcaidaria fell into disrepair and so, in the 1480s/1490s, during the reign of John II of Portugal, a new slender D-shaped keep was built in the middle of the northwest curtain wall.

The 15th century keep was first restored in 1920. Between 1940 and 1950 the keep was used as an annex to the local hospital and functioned as an isolation center for patients infected with tuberculosis. During the rest of the 20th century the castle walls and towers needed restoration works several times.

Redondo Castle can freely be visited. Sadly enough, the keep can not be accessed, as far as I know. A nice small castle in a quiet rural town.

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