Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Record ID
monument;ISL;pt;Mon01;15;ar
Library Location
sylvish; Faro, Portugal
Notes
The Silves defensive fortifications, with their vast wall sections built of tabia (rammed earth), and their four-cornered fortified towers built with red building material (Silves sandstone) and other well-preserved elements, bear distinctive qualities unique within the Islamic military context of Portugal. All that remains of this defensive group is the huge Almohad gate with its curved entrance, which is considered the main entrance to the city in Chalab (the name of Silves in the Islamic period), and it was called the Loulet Gate. This gate was guarded by a huge fortified tower from which a street led from the north side to the city and continued to Alcachova (the Kasbah), and descended in the opposite direction to the Arad River. In the 12th century AD, the Islamic city contained three large entrance gates: Bab al-Madina (Porta da Cidade) or Bab al-Balad (Porta da Lule) in the south, Bab al-Shams (Porta do Sul) in the east, and Bab al-Zawiya (Porta da Açuya) in the west. They were all protected by fortified towers. There were more than twenty towers leaning on the wall, most of which have disappeared. The urban fortifications of Silves surround an area of seven hectares that today represents without a doubt the most beautiful military edifice from the Islamic era in Portugal. The Almohad wall in Silves (the second half of the 12th century AD) was built over the remains of the previous wall dating back to the Almoravid period, and it was necessary to expand and fortify it in the face of the approaching military hordes of Christians. The entire area of the fort, as well as the historical center of Silves (the old wall within the walls), has been subject to regular archaeological excavations for nearly twenty years, and the excavations confirm this, both in terms of the groups of residential houses that were found, and in terms of the pieces that were recovered. Extracted from it, there was an Islamic city of great political, commercial and cultural importance during the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries AD.
Sample Text
Maria da Conceição Amaral “Islamic wall” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;pt;Mon01;15;ar
