Castle of Serpa

Serpa, Portugal, Portugal

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Castle of Serpa in Serpa, Portugal, originated as an 8th-century Moorish fortification later captured by Christian forces under King Afonso I in 1166, retaken by Muslims, and definitively conquered by Sancho II in 1232 before King Dinis ordered its major late-13th-century reconstruction and town walls from 1295.

The Gothic ensemble features an oval citadel with a rectangular keep tower, semi-circular and square turrets, battlements, three original gates like Porta de Moura and Porta de Beja flanked by chamfered cylindrical towers, and an encircling double wall system.

Modernized with incomplete bastions by Nicolas de Langres during the 17th-century Restoration War—including Forte de São Pedro—the well-preserved ruins house an archaeological museum overlooking the Guadiana valley.