Tower of Centum Cellas

The Tower of Centum Cellas is a 12-metre-high pink granite structure near Belmonte, Portugal, dating to the 1st century AD. A dedicatory altar identified the owner as Lucius Caecilius, a wealthy tin trader who built his villa along the road from Augusta Emerita (Merida) to Bracara Augusta (Braga). Excavations by IPPAR in 1993-1998 revealed it was part of a larger villa rustica complex with rooms, corridors, and courtyards, not an isolated tower. The building was destroyed by fire in the mid-3rd century and later rebuilt. Declared a National Monument in 1927, its original function remains debated among scholars.