Castle of Salir

The Castle of Salir (Portuguese: Castelo de Salir) is an Almohad fortress, located in the civil parish of the same name (Salir (Loulé)), 16 kilometres from the municipality seat of Loulé in the Portuguese Algarve.

The castle is a late Islamic castle, built during a period of intense pressure from Christian forces. It was part of the a network of Almohad castles, an extensive line of coastal defenses that stretched into the interior from Castro Marim until Alcoutim. Salir was a rural defensive post, one of several that were aligned towards the interior: it was an advanced outpost. Its function was to protect the farmers from attacks by Christians, and which intensified after the conquest of Tavira by knights of the Order of Santiago. The construction of the castle occurred in the 12th century, but was King Sancho I of Portugal conquered the settlement in 1189. Ever mindful of Moorish counteroffensives, the walls were reinforced at the end of the 12th century. The majority of ceramics discovered on the site date to the period between the 12th and 13th century.

Salir enters the compiled documents of the Portugaliae Monumenta Historica, as the name of a place taken by commander Paio Peres Correia. The master was to await the arrival of Afonso (1248–1279) so that they could unite their forces and remove the last vestiges of resistance in the Algarve. Consequently, the fortification of Salir, within this context, had a strategic role. Later, a fire destroyed the castle, which was reconstructed two times, before actually falling into ruins.

Around 1505, there were less than 87 residential homes in Salir.

By the end of the 16th century, the castle was already abandoned and in a state of ruins.

In 1758, there were 11 homes in Salir, likely due to the 1755 Lisbon earthquake which caused damage to the castle and surrounding countryside.

The civil parish of São Sebastião de Salir had approximately 408 homes in 1798.

The slow deterioration of the castle was, by 1841, semi-complete, as reports from the site suggest that the structure was in ruins.

The first archaeological investigation of the castle and surroundings began in 1987. Salir was elevated to the status of town in 1993.

Text adapted from “Castle of Salir” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Castle of Salir ranks #6,799 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #169 of the 200 mapped in Portugal. Founded 1200, it is older than 77% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 544 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Portugal compares in the castle statistics.

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