I've been to Elvas once to attend a Christmas Postcrossing meeting a few years ago. This city located in easternmost central Portugal, has a lot of wonderful monuments worth to visit, the Graça Fort is definitely one of them.
© Sergiy Scheblykin 2016 * Iberian Landscapes
PT-541987, sent by Alice.
If you ever visit this fort in Elvas, you might meet Alice, she's has been working there for the last 2 years.
Also known as the Count Lippe Fort, the Graça Fort is located in a mount with the same name, one of the highest mounts in the region, with a big strategic-defensive importance, at about 1km distance north from the town of Elvas.
This wonderful military monument was started in 1763, ordered by king D. José I, and inaugurated in 1792, already during the reign of Queen D. Maria I.
Built in an area that had already been suffering with the many enemy attacks, namely from the nearby Spanish forces, the Graça Fort has resisted the Spanish attacks during the Oranges War (1801) and to the French bombings commanded by General Soult, in the context of the Peninsular War (1811).
Graça Fort is constituted by three defensive lines, including in its interior several dependencies such as barracks, chapel, bunkers, the governor house, a big cistern, cannons, among many others.
Important part of the Elvas defensive strategy, a town that since early times has been an important strategically defensive point, the Graça Fort was built in the place where before was located the ancient Santa Maria da Graça Chapel. - in: https://www.guiadacidade.pt/en/poi-forte-da-graca-20171
The Fort is classified as National Heritage since 1910 and is part of the UNESCO WHS Garrison Border Town of Elvas and its Fortifications.
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