Ourém Castle

Ourém Castle

A castle on a crown of walls

In central Portugal, not far from the famous shrine of Fátima, a steep hill rises above the surrounding fields. On its summit huddles the tiny, perfectly preserved medieval town of Ourém, wrapped in stone walls — and crowning it all stands the castle, its three round towers linked by a curtain wall. Seen from below, the whole hilltop looks like a single great fortress, a little stone crown set down upon the land.

Frontier beginnings

Like so many Portuguese castles, Ourém began as a frontier stronghold in the long wars between Christians and Moors. A castle stood here from the 1100s, guarding the lands and roads of the region. According to legend the hill takes its name from a Moorish princess named Oureana, who fell in love with a Christian knight — a romantic tale, even if history cannot prove it.

The great Count of Ourém

The castle we see today owes its grandeur to one man: Afonso, the fourth Count of Ourém, who lived in the 1400s. He was one of the richest and most powerful nobles in Portugal, a grandson of the Constable Nuno Álvares Pereira, the great hero who had helped win Portugal's independence at the Battle of Aljubarrota.

Count Afonso loved fine things and had travelled to Italy, where he saw the elegant palaces of Renaissance princes. Around 1450 he rebuilt Ourém into a home worthy of his wealth and taste — a place that was both a strong castle and a comfortable palace, with handsome towers, fine rooms and even a curious set of underground passages and cisterns cut into the hill. He also founded a beautiful church in the town below, where he was later buried in a magnificent carved tomb.

Earthquake and decline

After the count's day, the castle's importance faded. Then in 1755 the great earthquake that destroyed much of Lisbon also shook Ourém, toppling buildings and cracking the walls. The little town on the hill, no longer needed as a fortress, slowly emptied as people moved down to the new town that grew at the foot of the slope.

For a long time the old castle and its walled town stood half-forgotten, a quiet ruin watched over by the wind.

A medieval town reborn

In modern times the historic hilltop of Ourém has been carefully restored and is now protected as a national monument. The narrow lanes, the old houses, the church and the castle have been brought back to life, and the medieval town has become a charming step back in time.

Visiting today

Visitors who climb the hill pass through ancient gateways into the walled town before reaching the castle itself. From its towers and battlements the view stretches for miles over the green countryside of central Portugal. With its three towers, its hidden passages and its tale of a mighty count and a legendary princess, Ourém Castle is a place where history and storybook seem to meet on a single windswept hill.