Fort of the Açougue

Fort of the Açougue (Forte do Açougue)
Fort of the Butcher
Fort (Forte)
Named for: Butcher
Country  Portugal
Autonomous region  Azores
Group Central
Island Terceira
Municipality Angra do Heroísmo
Architects Tommaso Benedetto
Style Medieval
Material Basalt
Origin 16th century
 - Initiated 1576
Owner Portuguese Republic
For public Public
Management Direção Regional de Cultura
Status Unclassified

The Fort of the Açougue (Portuguese: Forte do Açougue), ruins of a 16th-century fortification located in the municipality of Angra do Heroísmo, along the southern coast of Terceira, Portuguese archipelago of the Azores.

History

Its construction remotes from the Portuguese succession crisis of 1580, sometime between 1579 and 1581, when attacks by pirates in the mid-Atlantic threatened the safety and security of New World treasure ships. The Corregedor of the Azores, Ciprião de Figueiredo e Vasconcelos initiated the construction of several forts that ringed the coasts of Terceira, using the plans of Italian military engineer Tommaso Benedetto as its basis.

The chronicler Gaspar Frutuoso referred to this fortification in the explanations in his Saudades da Terra, sometime in the 16th century:

"At the fort called Açougue: [there are] Two pieces of strained iron, of 10 quintais and 30 arráteis; another piece of iron of 9 quintais [900 kilograms (2,000 lb)] and 20 arráteis [13.77 kilograms (30.4 lb)]; two of bronze of 140 arráteis [64.26 kilograms (141.7 lb)], with crowns and crescent moons; 115 projectile of lead with lead bullets pear the grinders, ten...projectiles, twelve alcanzias [hand-thrown grenades]."[1]

Architecture

By the end of the 20th century there little more than ruins of this fortification, nor the remains of its foundations.

References

Notes
  1. Gaspar Frutuoso (Saudades da Terra), p.89
Sources

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