The Tower of Esporão: Preserving our Heritage

History

The Tower of Esporão, one of the most important towers built during the transition from the Middle Ages to the modern era, stands on the Esporão Estate in Reguengos de Monsaraz.

It is thought to have been built by Morgado Álvaro Mendes de Vasconcelos between 1457, the date he inherited the fief, and 1490, the year of his death. This is the conclusion of the historian José Pires Gonçalves, based on the architectural style and siting of the Tower.

Álvaro Mendes came from a noble family of rising influence linked to the powerful House of Bragança, having earlier been a knight in the household of the Duke of Bragança and governor of the city of Évora.

The construction of the Tower of Esporão can therefore be viewed as a tangible manifestation of his aristocratic aspirations. As such, it represented a desire to assert the new lineage, an assertion that was customarily expressed by the building of a tower or keep as a symbol of the family’s status in society.

The principal purpose of such towers had originally been for occupation, but by the end of the 15^th century they would have been ill-suited to permanent occupation as the accommodation was very limited.

They may have also been used as safe refuges for people and goods in times of unrest. Above all, however, they were a symbol of lordship and military power.

In plan form, the Tower of Esporão describes a rectangle measuring 14.4 x 10.9 metres, markedly different from other towers of the period.


This model was to be followed later for several other towers, some of larger dimensions, a sign of the influence that the Tower of Esporão had on construction in the Alentejo.

The “Fortified Enclosure of Esporão”

Over the centuries, the Tower of Esporão was heavily altered, obscuring its original architectural design.

The building – the most important of the group of structures composing the “Fortified Enclosure of Esporão” – also incorporates an interesting Fortified Gate with a spiral staircase leading up to a defensive platform and the Chapel of Our Lady of Remedies, demonstrating the importance that medieval towers re-acquired at the close of the Middle Ages. The chapel’s existence suggests not only that its owners had begun to make more use of the spacious towers but also that the sites on which they were built were, in part, consecrated.

Restoration of the Tower of Esporão

In 1973, Finagra purchased the Esporão Estate and, over many years, lobbied official bodies for its restoration.

Four years ago, Finagra took the initiative to restore the Tower of Esporão to its former dignity.  Authorisation for its restoration was obtained from IPPAR, and Finagra began the restoration of this national monument at its own expense. 

A restoration team was set up by Finagra and the work of restoring the structure – of inestimable importance to Portugal’s heritage – was finally begun.