Dornes

The village of Dornes has its origins steeped in religion with a church that was ordered to be built by Queen Isabel of Portugal (1271AD to 1336AD).  The church was positioned on a cliff where a Templar tower already existed. The pentagonal tower, of limestone base with fitting shale walls and irregular façades is unique to Portugal and was probably constructed on top of another church previously built by Roman General Sertório (122BC to 72BC).

During the 12th and 13th Centuries, the crusading Order of the Knights Templar helped the Portuguese in battle against the invading Moorish infidels.  In return they were rewarded with extensive lands and political power.  In 1314, Pope Clement V was forced to suppress this rich and powerful Order, but in Portugal King Dinis formed the Knights of the Order of Christ, which inherited the property and privileges of the Templars.  Ideals of Christian expansion were revived in the 15th Century, when their Grand Master, Prince Henry the Navigator, invested the order’s revenue in sea exploration.  The emblem of the order, the squared cross, adorned the sails of the caravels that crossed the uncharted waters.

Located only 30km away from Dornes is the beautiful city of Tomar,a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Convent of Christ, originally designed as a monument symbolising the Reconquest, the Convent of the Order of the Knights Templar of Tomar (transferred in 1344 to the Knights of the Order of Christ) came to symbolise just the opposite during the Manueline Period – the opening up of Portugal to other civilisations.

Dornes was granted municipality rights in 1513 by king D. Manuel I "O Venturoso" of Portugal.  These rights were withdrawn in 1836.

The beautiful and charming village of Dornes is today a peninsula on the shores of the Castelo de Bode Dam Lake and has less than 800 inhabitants.

Politically speaking, Dornes is a Parish “freguesia” within the Municipality “concelho” of Ferreira do Zêzere and belongs to Santarém and to Lisboa and Vale to Tejo Regions.  Mainland Portugal is divided into greater metropolitan areas (grandes áreas metropolitanas), urban communities (comunidades urbanas) and intermunicipal communities (comunidades intermunicipais).  The divisions are organised by level of autonomy, from greatest to smallest.  Each metropolitan area is further subdivided into municipalities.  Dornes makes part of the Urban Community of Médio Tejo.

Historically speaking Dornes was part of the old Ribatejo Province and for tourist purposes belongs to the Knights of the Templar Tourism Region.