Here we can find typical architecture, a Templar castle, facades and churches from the 19th century. XVI, baroque gardens and sunny houses of families with roots embedded in history. Castelo Branco is an extremely dynamic city, which contrasts with the wide surrounding region that is depopulated.

Santiago Ribas - 360portugal

Castelo Branco, Castle and proposed pedestrian tour

Although there are datable traces of Pre and Proto-history found in Castelo Branco Castle, it was during the Middle Ages that the Templar fortress was founded. This building would have occurred between 1214 and 1230 and closed a wall and tower enc...

Santiago Ribas - 360portugal

Castelo Branco, Garden of Bishop´s Palace, aerial

In Western culture, the biblical concept of Eden served as a matrix for the innumerable garden proposals throughout the ages. Therefore, any garden imperfectly evokes Paradise on earth. The Jardim do Paço Episcopal de Castelo Branco, classified as...

Santiago Ribas - 360portugal

Castelo Branco, Devesa Square, city center

The urban design tried to give a new centrality to the city of Castelo Branco, and this has been fully and successfully achieved. At the centre of the square – Largo da Devesa – there is a big lake equipped with atomizers that soothe the intense s...

Santiago Ribas - 360portugal

Castelo Branco, Castle walls

Although there are datable traces of Pre and Proto-history found in Castelo Branco Castle, it was during the Middle Ages that the Templar fortress was founded. This building would have occurred between 1214 and 1230 and closed a wall and tower enc...

Santiago Ribas - 360portugal

Castelo Branco, Garden of Bishop´s Palace, Kings Stairs

Garden of Bishop´s Palace, in a rectangular shape, has five lakes on the main skate, in which the characteristic water games stand out. At the intermediate level, the Lago das Coroas stands out and, on opposite sides, the Stairs of the Kings and S...

Santiago Ribas - 360portugal

Castelo Branco, Garden of Bishop´s Palace, Stairs of the Kings

Garden of Bishop´s Palace, in a rectangular shape, has five lakes on the main skate, in which the characteristic water games stand out. At the intermediate level, the Lago das Coroas stands out and, on opposite sides, the Stairs of the Kings and S...

Santiago Ribas - 360portugal

Castelo Branco, Camoes Square, Aerial view

The old Praça Velha, current Praça Camões, is the old medieval town square of the fifteenth century. This square is surrounded by a group of important buildings of historical value such as the House of Arch Bishop, Porta of Pelame, a rectangular t...

Santiago Ribas - 360portugal

Castelo Branco, city walls, wall remainings, aerial view

Here we can find vernacular architecture of urban houses with 16th century spans, the remains of a Templar castle, facades and churches from the 16th century, baroque gardens and manor houses with families rooted in history. Castelo Branco is an e...

Santiago Ribas - 360portugal

Castelo Branco, Historic Zone, 16th century portals, aerial view

Castelo Branco has a Historic Zone full of beautiful 16th century Portals and an urban fabric that has hardly changed. The study of the houses that bear these Quinhentistas Portals reveals that it is an architecture of scarce resources that, in ma...

Santiago Ribas - 360portugal

Castelo Branco, Garden of Bishop´s Palace, Central Tank

Rich in symbolism, the entire Jardim do Paço is punctuated by statuary, with water as the central element - presented in space as the purifying element - in a scenario that takes the viewer to a constant duality between the terrain and the divine....

Santiago Ribas - 360portugal

Castelo Branco, Garden of Bishop´s Palace, Staircase of the Apostles

Garden of Bishop´s Palace, in a rectangular shape, has five lakes on the main skate, in which the characteristic water games stand out. At the intermediate level, the Lago das Coroas stands out and, on opposite sides, the Stairs of Kings and Stair...

Santiago Ribas - 360portugal

Castelo Branco, Garden of Bishop´s Palace, Moses staircase

On the upper deck, it is worth mentioning the Moses Staircase and the large tank from which the fountains are operated (by pressure), as well as supplying the entire Garden and the so-called Garden Gardens (currently Parque da Cidade). 

Santiago Ribas - 360portugal

Castelo Branco, Garden of Bishop´s Palace, Crown´s tank

Garden for recreation and reflection, it is dedicated to S. João Baptista, whose statue occupies a central place on the back wall of the main skate. It was the Bishop of Guarda, D. João de Mendonça (1711-1736), who ordered and probably guided the ...

Santiago Ribas - 360portugal

Castelo Branco, Cathedral, main chapel

The Church of São Miguel is erected in a place where, since 1213, there is news of the existence of a temple, whose property is attributed to the Templars. Elevated to Sé Conc Catedral in 1956, it was rebuilt in the 17th century, in the Renaissanc...