Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
You may have seen a photo of the goat tower before, but what really is it, how did it come to exist, and which came first; the goats or the tower?
"The first goat tower was built in Portugal in the 19th century and modeled on a garden folly. Known as Torre das Cabras (Tower of the Goats), it was built by Fernando Guedes da Silva da Fonseca (1871–1946) at Aveleda, near Penafiel, one of the oldest wineries in the Vinho Verde region of Portugal. The tower is three stories with stone walls and a rightward (climbing counter-clockwise) spiral wooden ramp and is one of several follies on the winery's estate for which their Follies label is named. Each of the follies, which in addition to the Torre das Cabras include the Manuelino-style Window, the Tea House, the Four Sisters Fountain, and the Guard House, is represented on one of the winery's labels.
According to Francisco Guedes Almeida, a member of the 13th generation of the Guedes family to own the winery, the goat tower and the estate's other follies are "artistic daydreams with no functional explanation" built by various of his ancestors, one of whom "thought the goats did not belong to the plains ... so they built the goat tower, so they could have a mountain." The tower symbolizes fertility and abundance.
According to Almeida, he was travelling in South Africa and stumbled across another goat tower and called an uncle to tell him about it. His uncle told him, "You're in Fairview," and related a story of a 1960s visit from a winemaker from South Africa's Fairview Winery who had seen the Aveleda goat tower, was inspired by it, and wrote to the Guedes family to ask permission to build one."
More on Wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat_tower
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You may have seen a photo of the goat tower before, but what really is it, how did it come to exist, and which came first; the goats or the tower?
"The first goat tower was built in Portugal in the 19th century and modeled on a garden folly. Known as Torre das Cabras (Tower of the Goats), it was built by Fernando Guedes da Silva da Fonseca (1871–1946) at Aveleda, near Penafiel, one of the oldest wineries in the Vinho Verde region of Portugal. The tower is three stories with stone walls and a rightward (climbing counter-clockwise) spiral wooden ramp and is one of several follies on the winery's estate for which their Follies label is named. Each of the follies, which in addition to the Torre das Cabras include the Manuelino-style Window, the Tea House, the Four Sisters Fountain, and the Guard House, is represented on one of the winery's labels.
According to Francisco Guedes Almeida, a member of the 13th generation of the Guedes family to own the winery, the goat tower and the estate's other follies are "artistic daydreams with no functional explanation" built by various of his ancestors, one of whom "thought the goats did not belong to the plains ... so they built the goat tower, so they could have a mountain." The tower symbolizes fertility and abundance.
According to Almeida, he was travelling in South Africa and stumbled across another goat tower and called an uncle to tell him about it. His uncle told him, "You're in Fairview," and related a story of a 1960s visit from a winemaker from South Africa's Fairview Winery who had seen the Aveleda goat tower, was inspired by it, and wrote to the Guedes family to ask permission to build one."
More on Wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat_tower
Join membership: youtube.com/channel/UCGHDQtN_vzFYJaq_Fx1eikg/join
Second Channel: youtube.com/channel/UCt93hxFmjppL5nLRAX94UrA
Merch: qxir.creator-spring.com
Patreon: patreon.com/qxir
Twitter: twitter.com/QxirYT
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