Donation of the Ozêzere and Almourol Castles

In 1169, King Afonso I donated to the Order of the Temple the castles of Ozêzere, Cardiga and adjacent territories, as a demonstration of recognition for the support of the Templars to the Reconquest. The Templars thus became holders of a vast domain that gave them control of a significant part of the Tagus valley.

Between 1169 and 1171 (according to the epigraph on the main door), Gualdim Pais ordered the construction of the Almourol Castle, near Ozêzere. With a very particular location, in the middle of a small island in the Tagus River, it formed, together with Ozêzere and Cardiga, the defensive line of the Tagus River.