Torres Vedras

While travelling through this district, King Afonso III and Queen Beatrice, ordered the construction of a municipal hall, alongside the ancient castle (which today no longer exists).

Torres Vedras continued to be a place of importance: in 1413, King John I met with his council after legitimizing his expedition to Ceuta (marking the beginning of Portuguese maritime expansion); the Regent Peter, convened the Cortes in 1411, to deliberate over the wedding of his daughter Isabel with his nephew Afonso; and the place where King John II received the ambassadors of the Kingdom of Naples, and later the Republic of Venice, in 1496.

At the same time, intrigues and confrontations were fermented in Torres Vedras by local alcaides, such as in 1384 when the Master of Aviz encircled the town in order to force the Castilian alcalde Juan Duque to surrender.

The deaths of 400 men and 500 wounded, that included Lieutenant-Colonel Luís Mouzinho de Albuquerque, a liberal officer who disembarked in Mindelo and was later buried in the Church of São Pedro.

Following much of its history in battle, Torres Vedras lapsed into years of progress and development, supported by the expansion of the rail-lines in 1886, the installation of the electrical grid in 1912, and finally the canalization of waters to the town by 1926.

Fronting the Atlantic Ocean, Torre Vedres is bordered by the municipalities of Lourinhã (to the north), Alenquer (to the east), Sobral de Monte Agraço (to the southeast) and Mafra (to the south).

In addition to an extensive archaeological section dating back to late- Palaeolithic times, the museum contains works of art from local churches as well as an exhibition relating to the Lines of Torres Vedras.

The keep tower of the Moorish Castle of Torres Vedras, used in battle in the nation's infancy
Part of the defensive Lines of Torres Vedras initiated by Lt. Gen. Arthur Wellesley in the Peninsular Wars
The red tiled-roofs of the town in Santa Maria do Castelo e São Miguel parish
Sculpture Uvas , a symbol of viniculture (one of the main economic activities of the region), located in the southern access to the city
Eleanor of Portugal
Joaquim Agostinho, 1972