Sagres Fortress

According to legend, the isolated peninsula of Ponta de Sagres that prince Henry the Navigator, built in the XV century a fortress to send sailors on the mission of exploring the unknown seas. Following straight from the roundabout, you get to Fortaleza, ex-libris of Sagres. About the visit realizes why he called "the end of the world". There, the land ends abruptly between high cliffs and escarpments, and the sea begins, huge and endless, in a deep blue that joins the sky at the horizon line. The same view of the world that once a salted embraced the dreams of a man bold and that today is paradise for fishermen going painting the cliffs, inventing trails in rocks inaccessible. This part of the Atlantic coast, which is Sagres reference primary, was the target of numerous attacks by pirates, with a vast history of the naval battles that are associated names like Sir Francis Drake and Lord Nelson. A legendary testimony, which still passes by word of mouth, leads the people to dream with sink naus (also know as carracks) and hidden treasures on the seabed. It is known, however, that a grain of truth there is in these words popular and that the location of some boats is actually known.

Sagres is a page of the brightest period of Portugal's history. Sagres is a fortress, also called the Castle of Sagres or Fort de Sagres, crowning the promontory of the same name.

This tip, hit by the wind, visitors enjoy a breathtaking view along the coast, and in the inlets of Sagres and the shaft of S. Vicente, extreme southwest of the European continent, and the immensity of the Atlantic.

Visited by sailors from the Mediterranean Sea since c. 4000 A. C, was quoted since antiquity by Avieno, Strabo and Pliny, as an area cultual dedicated to Hercules or Saturn, god of strong connotation with the maritime world, not surprise therefore the church, which had, Sacrum Promontórium. Here know is one of the largest concentrations of Menhirs and enclosures megalithic Europe.

Later, during the occupation of Islamic P. Iberian sharpened up his character, place of pilgrimage, called up Chakrach then, much having contributed to the legend of such relics of the Christian martyr St. Vicente de Zaragoza. Here stood the Church of Raven, tipping the relics of St. Vincent to the XII century, when D. Afonso Henriques as rescued to Lisbon.

The promontory of Sagres, and the adjacent towns of San Vicente and Sagres, was donated on 27 October 1443, by conductor D. Pedro his brother, the Infante D. Henry (1394-1460). The town of Sagres, then abandoned and in ruins because of attack of pirates from Morocco, was, from then rebuilt and people as come back, including with regard to their defence, by Infante, taking into account the objectives he had in mind .

Thus, the Sagres of the first half of the fourteenth century became the core of the expanding maritime ports, receiving scholars and sailors of all nationalities, gathered around the Infante: the so-called School of Sagres.

After the death of Infante (1460) and subsequent travel to Lisbon axis of the expansion, the town and fort lost its importance. Nevertheless, there was Portuguese monarchs it recognized the importance. D. Manuel I determined the creation of the town of Sagres and the building of the mother church.

Meanwhile, the English corsair Francis Drake, after plundering Cadiz, attacked, destroyed the land of Cabo de S. Vincent and plundered Sagres. Then happened a disgrace historic: lost up the archives and library of D. Henrique. Philip II and IV ordered works inside the fortress. In the eighteenth century suffered further renovations after the 1755 earthquake.

 The fortress was then seriously damaged by the tsunami when the huge wave climb the height of the cliff. From the reign of King Maria I (1793), the construction date of the current port of entry in round arch, topped by triangular fronton to shield the real center. The marquis de Sá da Bandeira he put on July 24, 1840, a plaque with a comprehensive entry in Latin and in Portuguese, topped by a shield with the real crown flanked by a caravel and a globe.

This was the way to honor the Infante. In the decade of 1980, however, due to the degradation of the whole match in order to use the site to the assumptions of the Charter of Venice (enabling the host tour), was launched a competition for the recovery of the Fortaleza de Sagres that modified and changend the characterize of all collection.

Here you can see is the entry, the portal neoclassical of Porta's Square, the traces of Vila do Infante prior to "setecentistas" walls, including the tower-tank, a short wall-winds (crowned with battlements false), the Church of Nossa Senhora da Graça, a pattern Discovery, the call to Rosa-of-Winds, also known as Rosa dos Ventos do Infante D. Henrique, a large structure that is considered back to the sixteenth century. Revealed casually in 1921, represents a star with 32 spokes, symbolizing the path, listed in a circle, drawn by the soil and pebbles irregular that some authors believe it is the gnômon of a sun clock.
Bibliography: IPPAR; DGEMN; Portugal Eternal, Public, 2002; Treasures Artísticos of Portugal, Selections from Reader's Digest.

(Source: visitalgarve)

Translated through Google Translator