Bragança - Fortaleza

In front of the Fortaleza gateway is a modern statue of Dom Fernando, Duke of Bragança and governor of Ceuta, erected to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the ceremonial granting of a charter to the town in 1464.

Within the walls are the remains of the Ducal Castle (12th C.), seat of the Dukes of Bragança. The 34m/112ft high keep, the Torre de Menagem, with two fine Gothic twin windows on the south and east sides, was built in the 15th C. Nearby is a 6m/20ft high pelourinho (pillory column), its Gothic shaft resting on the back of a wild boar carved from granite, probably dating from the late Iron Age. Also within the precincts of the castle is the church of Santa Maria do Castelo (16th C.), with a fine Renaissance doorway.

The most interesting building within the Fortaleza walls is the Romanesque Domus Municipalis, a severe granite structure of the 12th C., built over a Roman cistern. In form an irregular pentagon, it has a dwarf gallery under the roof ridge (recently restored). This is one of the few secular buildings of the Romanesque period in Portugal.