Castelo de Vinhais

Portugal, Portugal

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Castelo de Vinhais is a medieval castle in the town of Vinhais, Bragança district, northern Portugal, near the Spanish border, originally a Galician-Roman fortress that evolved into a key defensive site. Built in the 13th century under Sancho II and modified by Afonso III, who granted a charter in 1253, it featured an oval wall with six towers, a keep defending the main gate, a barbican, cistern, and church within, as documented by Duarte de Armas in 1509 amid noted decay. It changed hands during the 1383-85 crisis and endured sieges like the 1666 War of Restoration, with much demolished in the 18th century for a church, leaving walls, towers, and the Torreão keep today as a National Monument since 1947.