Silves Castle

Arab rule

Arab rule left one of the best preserved fortifications in Portugal

The first fortifications were built upon a possible Lusitanian castro, by the Romans or Visigoths. Between the 8th and 13th centuries the Arabs occupied the castle and expanded it. It became a National Monument in 1910.

Sieges

Sancho I took Silves in 1189 after a long siege, and lost it in 1191

King Sancho I of Portugal, helped by a Crusader army, conquered the city in 1189. A large army retook it in 1191. Forces under Paio Peres Correia took the fortress for good in the 13th century, under Afonso III.

Water

A large underground cistern supplied the houses around the castle

A water catchment and a large rain fed cistern supplied the surrounding dwellings as late as the 1920s. The Cistern of Moura has five naves marked by four orders of columns. The Cisterna dos Cães is a vertical shaft.

60metres deep, the vertical hole of the Cisterna dos Cães

The palace

Excavations in 2005 found the 11th century palace of Al-Mutamid

Archaeologists Rosa and Mário Varela Gomes began digging in August 2005. They found vestiges of the Muslim ruins, in particular the 11th century governor's palace occupied by Al-Mutamid, with designs of polychromatic stucco.

Repairs

The 1755 earthquake hit the castle, and a museum was begun in its towers

On 1 November 1755 the Lisbon earthquake damaged the castle. The DGEMN made its first intervention in the decade of 1940. In 1967 work began on a municipal museum within the towers, and restoration and excavation continue.