Castle of Salir

The Castle of Salir is an Almohad fortress, located in the civil parish of the same name, 16 kilometres from the municipality seat of Loulé in the Portuguese Algarve.HistoryThe castle is a late Islamic castle, built during a period of intense pressure from Christian forces. It was part of the a network of Almohad castles, an extensive line of coastal defenses that stretched into the interior from Castro Marim until Alcoutim. Salir was a rural defensive post, one of several that were aligned towards the interior: it was an advanced outpost. Its function was to protect the farmers from attacks by Christians, and which intensified after the conquest of Tavira by knights of the Order of Santiago. The construction of the castle occurred in the 12th century, but was King Sancho I of Portugal conquered the settlement in 1189. Ever mindful of Moorish counteroffensives, the walls were reinforced at the end of the 12th century. The majority of ceramics discovered on the site date to the period between the 12th and 13th century.Salir enters the compiled documents of the Portugaliae Monumenta Historica, as the name of a place taken by commander Paio Peres Correia. The master was to await the arrival of Afonso (1248–1279) so that they could unite their forces and remove the last vestiges of resistance in the Algarve. Consequently, the fortification of Salir, within this context, had a strategic role. Later, a fire destroyed the castle, which was reconstructed two times, before actually falling into ruins.