User Reviews
Serge Kovacs (4 years ago)
With medieval characteristics, Caminha castle was built on military foundations of the 4th and 5th centuries. The defences were reinforced and expanded during the Christian Reconquest. During conflicts with Castile, its settlement and defense were encouraged under the reigns of King Afonso III (1248-1279), King Denis (1279-1325) and John I (1385-1433), due to the strategic value that this lindeira town represented for the kingdom.
With the closure of the 1383-85 Portuguese interregnum crisis, the village supported John. The new King John I helped the village and garrisoned by a second line of walls. Under the reign of King Manuel I (1495-1521), the town and its castle are recorded in drawings by Duarte de Armas in his Book of Fortresses, c. 1509.
The current Clock Tower (Torre do Relógio) would be the most important and robust building of the fortified ensemble, originally constituted as the Keep, with a quadrangular shape and an inscription of regal arms stone. Since the beginning of the 17th century it houses the village clock, the bell dating from 1610, and since the Restoration War it bears a stone image of Our Lady of Conception.
References:The Beckov castle stands on a steep 50 m tall rock in the village Beckov. The dominance of the rock and impression of invincibility it gaves, challenged our ancestors to make use of these assets. The result is a remarkable harmony between the natural setting and architecture.
The castle first mentioned in 1200 was originally owned by the King and later, at the end of the 13th century it fell in hands of Matúš Èák. Its owners alternated - at the end of the 14th century the family of Stibor of Stiborice bought it.
The next owners, the Bánffys who adapted the Gothic castle to the Renaissance residence, improved its fortifications preventing the Turks from conquering it at the end of the 16th century. When Bánffys died out, the castle was owned by several noble families. It fell in decay after fire in 1729.
The history of the castle is the subject of different legends.