Thursday 15 October 2009

Pillory by the Romanian Group



Yesterday we had the opportunity to visit Obidos, which appeared as a medieval fortress to us.
We can see why Obidos is a preferred tourist destination. Not only the well-preserved medieval look of its streets, squares, walls and its massive castle, but also its location which allows a 360 degree view of the surroundings, can be strong arguments for the people who want to be a part of an episode of history.
We have always been interested in architecture, so, from the moment we have arrived here we were fascinated by the colourful and also the simplicity of the homes here in Obidos. They are a lot alike, they form a whole, and still they have their own unique characteristics. Obidos has approximately the same structure as a town, both having gothic, renaissance and baroque influences.
By preserving their history, and in the same time living in this modern world, the people of Obidos can teach the world a valuable lesson: that we should never forget where we come from and that being ourselves also means carrying a little bit of history inside each of us.
In this trip we found an impressive monument that is called Pillory. We were interested in this and we found that it was built in granit in the end of 15th century. It represented power, as well as a symbol of municipal independence. It was also used to punish the criminals and thieves. On one side, it has a shield with the royal coat of arms and on the other side, a fishing net that Queen Leonon of Lecastre gave to the town in memory of the loss of her son, the Royal prince Alfonso, representing the fishing net to which the fisherman brought the body of her only son who died in a hunting accident.
This is what we think about Pillory:
Diana: "From the first time I saw it I thought that it´s a fountaine, but when we searched in a book at a shop, we saw that it´s a symbol of municipal authority and it reminded me of Vlad Tepes (Dracula) who haunted and killed everyone that was or he tought it was guilty"
Ruxandra and Amalia: If you are interested in history and you like mysterious things, Pillory is a great place for you.
Alina: When I first saw the monument I didn´t find it very interesting, but when I heard its story it impressed me a lot.

1 comment:

Élia Martins said...

Nice post. Thank you for enjoying so much our portuguese things