Tomar
Tomar's history is closely related to the Order of the Knights Templar. The city grew at the foot of the hill where the order's Grand Master, Gualdim Pais, built a castle in 1160.
Tomar's main monument comprises the Castle and the Convent of Christ, built atop the hill towering above the city. All that remains today of the original castle (12th century) is the walls surrounding the stronghold and the alcazar, with its keep, as well as the circular temple, the central high altar in the middle of an octagonal chapel, according to the circular Romanesque style that the Templars were so fond of. The infante Dom Henriques added the Manueline nave to the original church with its magnificent gate.
The site on which the Templars' castle was built was given the Arabic name Nabao in 1190, where Gualdim Pais had just driven back a Muslim attack. After trying to recapture Silves (south of Portugal), the Emir of Morocco, leading a great army supported by the troops of the Andalusian kings, moved north, crossed the Tagus, approached Santarém, where King Dom Sancho I was holed up, and captured Torres Noves and Abrantes. He prepared to do the same to Tomar, but after a six-day siege, the Templars were still in firm control of the castle, in which the population had sought refuge. The besieged inflicted devastating losses on the Moors, mainly when they managed to force the castle's south door and began pouring into the outer enclosure in their thousands. The Christians immediately started counter-attacking and drove the Moors back with such spirit and cut such swathes through their enemies that the door was called the "door of blood".
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The castle was mostly built from stones taken from the razed city of Além da Ponte (the Roman "Selium"), located by the river Nabào - some of them have kept their inscriptions and can easily be spotted. Forming an irregular pentagon, the fortification is the result of the military architecture that was ahead of its time, which can be found in the Holy Land, from where Gualdim Pais probably drew his inspiration. Two walled enclosures - one forming the outer enclosure, and the other protecting the keep - and the combined use of round and square towers bear testament to this idea, just like the convent's wonderful oriental-style rotunda.
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The bailey stretches from the Sun Gate to the Rotunda in the north-west. On the highest part of the hill, the chemise or keep's wall is marked by high walls, from which the keep itself emerges. To the south-west, at the far end of another group of walls (since disappeared), the Countess' tower can be found. Two other walls stretching towards the south-east are reinforced with flanking towers and corner towers of various shapes. The wide range of shapes and volumes, the play of perspectives between the bailey and the outer wall, the mullioned windows, the arches, the merlons decorated with crosses, the wooded surrounding landscape... everything contributes to making this castle a remarkable monument and is recognised as such by Unesco.
The Charola of Tomar Castle
Dating back to the late 12th - early 13th century and integrated within the Convent of Christ, the Rotunda (the Charola) originally formed the Templars' chapel.
Eight pillars support a two-level octagonal structure topped with a dome; an ambulatory with a ring-shaped vault separates the octagon from the outer 16-sided polygon. The decoration - stuccos, painted panels, statues - dates back to the turn of the 16th century. The rotunda therefore matches the type of Templar buildings with a centred plan, but the way in which it is organised stands as an original interpretation of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
Strengthened on the outside by massive buttresses ending on a crenellated terrace, it blends in with the interior of the Templar fortress, for which it actually served as a guard tower.
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