São Jorge Castle

São Jorge Castle crowns one of Lisbon's highest hills on a site fortified since at least the 1st century BCE, with Iron Age, Roman, and Visigothic remains found beneath the current structure. The existing walls date largely from the Moorish period, when the fortress was built between the 9th and 11th centuries as the alcáçova, or citadel, of the walled Islamic city. In 1147, King Afonso Henriques captured the castle after a four-month siege during the Second Crusade, an event that marked the effective founding of the Kingdom of Portugal, and the fortress served as the residence of Portuguese monarchs until the royal court relocated to the Paço da Ribeira in the 16th century. The complex preserves eleven towers and a circuit of crenellated walls, along with the archaeological remains of the Moorish-era royal palace and a Bronze Age house uncovered during excavations, displayed in situ within the Palace Archaeological Site inside the castle grounds. Visitors move through the grounds largely at their own pace across ramparts, a peacock-filled esplanade with garden terraces, and the Ulysses Tower, which houses a periscope offering a live panoramic view of the city. The castle sustained heavy damage in the 1755 earthquake and in earlier sieges, and much of what stands today reflects a large-scale restoration carried out between 1938 and 1940, which rebuilt sections of wall and towers in a stylized medieval manner rather than a strict archaeological reconstruction. The Palace Archaeological Site, opened after excavations in the 1990s, preserves foundations spanning the Iron Age through the Moorish period and is presented with interpretive panels rather than a chronological museum circuit.