Story Studio
monsanto

Monsanto Castle was built around the 13th century, but it underwent changes in the course of the 14th, 16th, and 17th centuries. The Keep was built by the Templars. This set is classified as a National Monument. Annually, in May, the ruins of the Castle are the stage for the Festa da Divina Santa Cruz of pagan origin.

The Mother Church, at the entrance to the village, built around the 15th century and rebuilt during the 18th century, still maintains the Romanesque portal on its facade today. In the lateral façades, there are different spans, from which Manueline cracks stand out, and, in the South façade, a round arch portal, without imposing or framing.

The Igreja da Misericórdia, near the Torre do Lucano, built in the 16th century in the Renaissance style, was the parish church before the construction of Mother Church. Inside it displays three altars, an image of S. Pedro, and an imaginary set about the Passion cycle.

The Lucano Tower, built in the 15th century and enlarged in the 17th century, was part of Monsanto's defensive structure, later transformed into a clock tower. At the top of the tower, there is a replica of the Galo de Prata, awarded as a trophy in the election of the “most Portuguese village in Portugal”.

It is a cross with an octagonal column, on a square base with beveled edges. At the top is a simple cross, also with an octagonal section. It is situated at a fork in the road, not far from the Mother Church

Situated in the parking lot at the entrance to the village, it is known as Largo do Baluarte, or Baluarto, in its most popular form. It was a firing platform used during the 19th-century Peninsular Wars and now offers a magnificent view of the plains that surround Monsanto.

Fernando Namora worked as a municipal doctor in Monsanto between October 1944 and October 1946. His house, dated 1931, has a plaque on the facade that mentions Fernando Namora in his work A Nave de Pedra, published in 1975: My last books on their final assembly and writing were written in the village.

Human presence has not always managed to take advantage of the rock formations present in this territory, resigning itself to its strong presence. Penedo do Pé Calvo is one such example. A gigantic cliff, based on a horizontal rocky base with multiple fractures.

An old furda that today has become a picturesque tourist spot, this shelter results from the free space at the base of several cliffs. This use of the geomorphological conditions of the land is one of the identifying characteristics of this village.

Formerly disseminated throughout the village, furdas, or pigsties, were organically aligned on the edges of the path that goes up the east side to the castle. These kept pigs, which was once a relevant long-term food source for their transformation into sausages.

Restored in 1938, this pillory consists of a small platform on which the base rests - a bell-shaped block - surmounted by a smooth column, topped by a cylinder.

The Gate of Santo António allowed the exit of the village on the west side. These doors, now isolated, were part of the so-called "wall of the count of Lippe" that came for the first time to fortify the village.