Central Way

In one of the poems from his work Ode to Alentejo, Miguel Torga wrote “Alentejo, Alentejo, Vastness of Portugal, Future, Continental! Plowed land that I see, being sea but without salt”. This “sea” may well be the immense territory named “Campo Branco”, called “de Ourique” in the 16th and 17th centuries when it was the destination for the winter pastures of the big flocks coming from Serra da Estrela, and therefore the phenomenon of transhumance strongly marked the county. This region is the most important cereal-growing area of Portugal, resulting from the extensive cultivation of cereals, and the existence of many species of birds with unfavorable conservation status depends on it. It is the particular case of the bustard, the heaviest bird of the European continent, whose observation, especially in the months of March and April, moves thousands of people every year to the Environmental Education Center of Vale Gonçalinho, a farm acquired by the NGO Liga para a Protecção da Natureza (League for Nature’s Protection).

Messejana is our destination. There we find the ruins of a castle, evoking the importance of this old medieval county, which was the seat of the Order of Santiago commendation since, at least, the reign of D. Dinis.

The locality has its origin in the Arabic word masjanâ, which means prison or imprisonment. A Christian Gothic castle, which was built around 1288, succeeded the fortified redoubt built by the Muslims. The village had been conquered by the troops of D. Sancho II in 1235. Located at the highest point of the village, of this former fortress only remains part of the tower used to defend the access to the enclosure. Implanted on the slopes of the castle, now in a slightly peripheral position in relation to the village, the current configuration of the Igreja de Nossa Senhora dos Remédios dates back to an extensive renovation in the 18th century. Despite being discreet, it is a compact and vertical church, worthy of a seat of commendation from Santiago of the south of the country.Contrary to the ruined medieval nucleus, the Praça 1.º de Julho View of Messejanasquare concentrates the main buildings of the village. The pillory illustrates the importance of the locality in the 16th century when it received a new charter from D. Manuel I in 1512. The Igreja da Misericórdia was built in 1570, and inside it subsistsna Mannerist painting representing the Pentecost, the moment when the apostles gained the ability to speak the various languages of the earth, essential knowledge for the sermons they subsequently undertook. The clock tower is annexed to the former City Council and marked, for centuries, the daily life of the local inhabitants with the sound of its bell.

Annual Fair − June

Nossa Senhora da Assunção Fair − August

Ethnographic Museum of Messejana

Located in one of the oldest buildings of Messejana, in the historical center of the village, the Ethnographic Museum can be considered the lounge of this land. It has 12 rooms reproducing an old sale, a classroom and several dependencies of typical Alentejo houses, from the most modest to the most well-to-do. It also exhibits objects such as the pitchers of Francisco Bartolomeu, the last water-bearer of Messejana.