Almendres Cromlech

Overview

The Almendres Cromlech is the largest group of standing stones in the Iberian peninsula and one of the largest in Europe, about 95 granite monoliths set in concentric circles and ellipses on a slope facing sunrise over the Serra de Monfurado, 15 km west of Évora near the village of Guadalupe; the oldest stones were raised around 6000 BC, older than Stonehenge by two or three millennia, and the site was rediscovered only in 1966. It is open at all hours, free and unfenced, at the end of a dirt track through cork oaks.

Some stones are 2.5 to 3.5 m high, a dozen carry carvings of circles, lines and a crozier-like figure, and one has a flat top with cup marks that may have been used to sight the equinox sunrise; a single 4.5 m menhir stands alone 1,400 m away, and a line from the circle to it points roughly to the midwinter sunrise.

History

Excavation found three phases: Almendres I around 6000 BC, two or three small concentric circles in the western part; Almendres II around 5000 BC, two irregular ellipses and the large menhirs; and Almendres III around 4000 BC, when the earlier layout was altered into a place for social or religious rites, with use running on into the Chalcolithic. The purpose is guessed at as ceremonial, astronomical or both; the site’s latitude matches the maximum elongation of the moon around 1500 BC, as Stonehenge’s does for its own date.

Henrique Leonor Pina found the stones in 1966 while mapping the geology of the district, and many that had fallen were re-erected by Mário Varela Gomes on their original bases. The cromlech belongs to the “megalithic universe of Évora”, with the cromlechs of Portela de Mogos and Vale Maria do Meio and the dolmens of the district, and the municipality has joined them in a megalithic route.

Visiting

From the Évora to Montemor road turn off at Guadalupe and follow the signed track 4.5 km through the Herdade dos Almendres; there is parking under the trees and a short walk to the stones, which occupy an area of 70 by 40 m on a north-west to south-east axis with the ground falling away east towards the sunrise. Walk the circles slowly: the smaller, older stones are at the western end, the bigger ellipses and the tallest menhirs to the east, and the carved ones, monolith 8 with its dimpled top and menhir 48 with the anthropomorphic figure and circles, need a low sun to show their marks.

The lone menhir is on the eastern edge of the estate near the farm buildings, reached by a footpath; the Dolmen of Zambujeiro, the largest in the peninsula, is a few kilometres south at Valverde on the same route.

Tips

• Dawn or the last hour of light: the carvings vanish under a high sun and the coach groups arrive mid-morning.
• The track is unpaved but fine for any car; do not try it after heavy rain.
• There is nothing at the site, no ticket office, café or water; Guadalupe has a bar.
• Combine with Zambujeiro and the Anta Grande, and be back in Évora for lunch.

Nearby

• Menhir of Almendres: 1.4 km east on the same estate.
• Dolmen of Zambujeiro: 8 km by road, at Valverde.
• Guadalupe village: 4.5 km.
• Évora: 15 km east.