EnglishMilitary Architecture
Safi [Safim, Çafi], North Africa, Marocco
Military Architecture
When the Portuguese took over Safi, they found several defense works, some dating back to the Almohadic period. Although some initial work was done in 1508 it was only after the siege the Portuguese suffered in 1510 and 1511 that the monarch decided to waste no more time. Hence the dispatch of brothers Diogo and Francisco Arruda in 1512 to design the existing castle and the walls of the city as the immediate danger came from inland. Once the decision had been made the necessary means were mobilized, Diogo Arruda directing a team of 44 stonemasons, five taipeiros (masons working with rammed earth) and 86 unskilled workmen. This gives an idea of the priority given to the project.
Besides the Arruda brothers, we know that several master masons worked in Safi, including João Luís (1513-1524), Luís Dias (1524-1526), Garcia de Bolonha (he started working in 1526) and Lourenço Argueiros. Most of the works were planned and executed under the rule of King Manuel. However some were concluded under the rule of King João III, such as the huge bastion and the imposing cuirass to the north of the city executed by Lourenço Argueiros. During the rule of the latter monarch, most of the planned works, almost always of reinforcement or maintenance, such as those projected for the wall, ended up not being done and, as is known, the city was abandoned.
In 1922 the Sea Castle and the Land Castle and, in 1923, the walls, were classified as historical monuments with the authorities taking on responsibility for their preservation and promotion.