São Jorge Castle

You've reached the highest point. This hill was inhabited long before Lisbon existed: archaeologists have found Iron Age remains here dating back at least to the sixth century BC.

1From citadel to royal palace

Under Muslim rule, from the eighth century, the summit became the citadel of al-Ushbuna, the military and political heart of the city. In 1147 Afonso Henriques took it after a siege of several months, backed by English, Flemish and German crusaders. An eyewitness left a Latin chronicle of the siege, the De expugnatione Lyxbonensi, which still lets historians reconstruct what happened.

When Lisbon became the capital of the kingdom in the thirteenth century, the castle was also the royal palace, the Alcáçova. Vasco da Gama was received here on his return from India, and a play by Gil Vicente, the father of Portuguese theatre, was first performed here. The court abandoned it in the early sixteenth century for the Paço da Ribeira by the river.

2A rebuilt castle

The 1755 earthquake and centuries of military use left it badly battered. Much of the medieval look you see today comes from a major restoration in the 1940s, which stripped away later additions and rebuilt battlements.

It is a genuine castle in its origins and layout, but many of its battlements are less than a hundred years old.

3What to look out for

• The statue of Afonso Henriques, the king of the conquest.
• The cannons on the esplanade, pointing towards the Baixa and the river.
• The towers and the wall-walk: from the ramparts it is easy to see why kings chose this summit.