Elvas
Bastions on the Border
Portrait
Elvas guards the road from Badajoz to Lisbon, and after Portugal regained independence in 1640 it was rebuilt as a star fort on the Dutch system — the largest bulwarked dry-ditch fortification on earth, with two outlying forts and a Roman-style aqueduct of 843 arches bringing water inside. It held a Spanish siege in 1659 with a garrison outnumbered five to one.
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