Castelo de Longroiva

The medieval castle of Longroiva is one of the most important examples of Templar military architecture in Beira Interior and one of the best examples of a Romanesque castle in the region. Built on a supposed pre-Roman hillfort, built between the 4th and 2nd centuries BC, its construction coincided with a significant surge in settlement in the region in the early 12th century, having belonged to the Order of the Temple and the Order of Christ. In the 18th century, with the settlement's progressive decline in importance, the castle's progressive ruin was documented. In the 19th century, the castle began to serve as a supply of stone for construction, and the interior of the castle was transformed into a cemetery, a use it still maintains. In the 20th century, investigations carried out there revealed some of the original structures, such as the cistern, and conservation work has revealed parts of the walls and the Keep, believed to have been one of the first to be built in Portugal, according to an inscription dated 1174.