Castle

Trancoso

The castle is excellently located and both it and the village date back to the Late Middle Ages. The first reference to it was in 936, when vizir Yahyà b Ishãq conquered the castle of Tarankūša. Since then it has been the scene of a number of battles and is one of the region’s most important fortifications. From the 9th to 11th centuries, the castle still has the donjon, which is a masterpiece of Portuguese military architecture thanks to its age and state of repair. Even so, today the castle displays eminently gothic characteristics. It consists of the donjon and five rectangular turrets along a rectangular wall. Inside the enclosure, which is accessible by a single gate, there is a cistern and well and the ruins of an old 16th century chapel in the eastern wall. It was classified as a National Monument in 1921.