Monsaraz

The hill of Monsaraz has been occupied since prehistory. Hundreds of megalithic monuments survive around it, and the hilltop itself was a fortified settlement before the Romans came. Romans, Visigoths, Arabs, Mozarabs and Jews all left their mark. Under Arab rule the place was called Saris or Sharish, after the gum rockrose that still grows in the dry slate soils of the hill — the origin of the name Monte Xaraz, and so Monsaraz.

Gerald the Fearless took the castle and town in 1167, but they were lost again after Afonso Henriques' defeat at Badajoz. In 1232 Sancho II retook them with the help of the Knights Templar, who garrisoned the border. Afonso III gave the town its first charter in 1276, and by then it was the head of a municipality with large privileges. After the crisis of 1383–1385 it passed into the estates of the House of Braganza, and King Manuel issued a new charter in 1512. When the plague emptied the area, the Duke of Braganza carried out small land reforms in 1527 to bring settlers back.

After the Restoration War of 1640 the castle was given a new bastion and became part of a chain of border defences with Elvas, Juromenha, Olivença and Mourão. The village's loyalty to the Miguelist side in the Liberal Wars, and the growth of Reguengos on the plain, cost it its status: the municipal seat moved to Reguengos in 1838, and definitively in 1851. In 2007 Monsaraz was a finalist in the Seven Wonders of Portugal.

Monsaraz is a village of whitewashed houses and slate streets inside medieval walls, and the old buildings tell its story: the parish church, the pillory, the old courthouse and town hall, a cistern and the castle. The former Church of Santiago holds a permanent cycle of art exhibitions, and every other year, usually in July, Monsaraz Museu Aberto turns the village into an open museum of cultural events.

The village has a place in Portuguese social science: in 1965–67 the anthropologist José Cutileiro studied it for his doctoral thesis, "A Portuguese Rural Society", under the pseudonym Vila Velha. Bullfighting has a strong following, and local people have sought the right to hold fights in which the bull is killed in the ring, as Barrancos has done legally since 2002.

The surrounding area is known for its crafts. The local economy once included terracotta earthenware and hammered copper, and nearby São Pedro do Corval is described as Portugal's first pottery centre; Reguengos is known for its woollen blankets. The Observatório do Lago Alqueva, an astronomical observatory, is listed among the area's attractions.

The parish of Monsaraz had about 660 people at the 2021 census, down from 782 in 2011, spread over some 88 square kilometres — fewer than eight people per square kilometre. Only a small part of them live inside the walls; the rest are in the hamlets on the slopes and the plain below.

Farming and livestock were the foundation of the local economy for centuries. Wine estates, olive groves and grazing still shape the land around the hill, and tourism, drawn by the village, the megaliths and the reservoir, has grown in the area in recent years. Since the Alqueva dam was completed in 2002 and its reservoir filled in 2010, the lake has spread across the valley below the village, changing the view and bringing new visitors.

Life in the village is slow, and the streets inside the walls are quiet once the day visitors have gone. The parish has been losing people, and residents depend on Reguengos de Monsaraz, about 15 km away, for most shops and services.

Food in Monsaraz is the cooking of the Alentejo. Açorda, the bread soup made with stale bread, garlic, coriander and poached eggs, is a classic of the region; migas, made in the Alentejo from leftover bread with pork drippings and coriander; and pork is at the centre of many meals, including carne de porco à alentejana, pork marinated in white wine, paprika and garlic, fried and combined with clams and potatoes.

Wine is the local product. Reguengos is a wine subregion of the Alentejo, was the European City of Wine in 2015, and has vineyards on the plain around the village. The prized meat of the region is porco preto, the black Iberian pig raised on acorns in the oak woodland and prized for its ham, and the Alentejo's cheeses include the sheep's cheese of Évora, which has protected designation. Desserts follow the Alentejo's convent tradition of egg and sugar, such as sericaia, a soufflé-like pudding often served with plums.