Castle of St. Philip (Castelo de Sao Filipe) description and photos - Portugal: Setubal (Topic)

Castle of St. Philip (Castelo de Sao Filipe) description and photos - Portugal: Setubal. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is Castelo de Sao Filipe.

Photo and description

The Castle of St. Philip stands on a hilltop in the upper part of Setubal. The construction of the castle began in 1582, during the era of Spanish rule in Portugal - during the reign of King Philip I, who personally oversaw the work of the castle. The plan for this building was developed by Italian architects - Filippo Terzii, and then - Leonardo Torriani, who was also a famous military engineer and court architect of King Philip I.

The Castle of St. Philip was built in the shape of a star. During the reign of the Portuguese king Joao IV, in the 17th century, new construction work was carried out in the castle: the outer wall was completed, the boundaries of the castle itself were expanded. Such strengthening of the castle was supposed to compensate for the lack of artillery, and to protect the port of Setubal from enemy invasions.

In the 18th century, the walls of the chapel, which was inside the fortress, were decorated with azulesos tiles painted by Policarpo de Oliveira Bernardes, a famous Portuguese tiled paintings maker.

Like many other structures in the country, the castle was damaged by the Lisbon earthquake in 1755. A little later there was an artillery school here. At the beginning of the twentieth century, restoration work was carried out in the castle and the fortress was included in the list of national monuments of Portugal. In 1969, during an earthquake, the castle was damaged again; its reconstruction took a long time.

Today, there is a five-star hotel inside the castle,

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Topic: Castle of St. Philip (Castelo de Sao Filipe) description and photos - Portugal: Setubal.