Forte da Ínsua
 
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Location of the Forte da Ínsua in Portugal. |
The modern fortress Forte da Ínsua is located on the small island of Ínsua in the municipality of União das Freguesias de Moledo e Cristelo in the district of Caminha in northwestern Portugal .
location
The fortress is located on the approximately 600 × 250 m small island Ínsua or Ínsua de Santo Isidro about 350 m west of the Portuguese coast in the mouth of the Portuguese-Spanish border river Minho ( Spanish Rio Miño ). The island, which is only a few meters above sea level, consists mainly of granite cliffs , just east of the mainland there is a small sandy beach that allows boats to land.
history
The island is mentioned for the first time with the establishment of a Franciscan monastery in 1392. The first fortress on the island, of which no traces have survived, was built at the same time by order of John I ( Portuguese D. João I ). Both the fortress and the monastery were expanded and rebuilt several times in the following centuries.
The fortress was given its present form in the years 1649–1676 by the governor D. Diogo de Lima, who initiated the construction of a new fortress that could meet the increased fortification requirements.
During the French invasions in 1807, the island was occupied by Spanish and French troops. In 1843 the monastery was abandoned and the fortress was completely taken over by the military. The last governor of the fortress was named in 1909.
A year later, in 1910, it was registered and protected as a Monumento Nacional.
fortress
The almost square interior of the fortress of 50 × 55 m is expanded by the northern and western bastions and the southern and eastern half-bastions to form a star-shaped floor plan of around 90 × 100 m. The flanks of the bastions are not drawn in, but meet the respective curtains almost at right angles .
The south-eastern curtain wall is additionally protected in the middle by an intermediate bastion without flanks. A ravelin is in front of the north-east coastline , which protects the small beach, the main entrance to the fortress and the freshwater spring on the island.
The accommodation, as well as the administration and supply buildings of the crew, border directly on the fortress walls in the interior, as the majority of the interior is occupied by the monastery, which in turn is separated from the military complex by its own monastery wall.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Catarina Oliveira: Forte da Ínsua . Direção-Geral do Património Cultural, accessed February 11, 2018 (Portuguese).
- ^ A b Paula Noé: Forte da Ínsua / Farol da Ínsua . SIPA, 2017, accessed February 11, 2018 (Portuguese).
literature
- Júlio Gil u. Augusto Cabrita: Os mais belos castelos e fortalezas de Portugal . Lisbon 1986 (Portuguese).
Web links
- Forte da Insua Vista aérea 4K. Retrieved February 11, 2018 (Portuguese, aerial film of the fortress).
Coordinates: 41 ° 51 '33 " N , 8 ° 52' 29" W.