A town as old as Portugal. Since 1500 it has been as well known in Brazil as in Portugal.
The town of Belmonte received its charter in 1199. It is located on the panoramic slopes of Monte da Esperança (formerly Montes Crestados), where its castle was built at the dose of the twelfth century on the rockiest face of the mount. Together the castles of Sortelha and Vila de Touro it formed the Alto Côa defence line, backed by the natural wall of Serra da Estrela and the Zêzere Valley, until the Treaty of Alcanices was signed in 1297.


At a time in wich Leon and Castile were at war, the Belmonte castle was improved in the reigns of Afonso III, Dinis and Jonh I. The bravery and loyalty of the Cabrais family is legendary and their name commands respect. This is particularly the case with the first town governor, Fernão Cabral.


After Afonso V appointed him to this position for life, and with right of inheritance, in 1466, he turned the castle into a fortified noble residence, where his son Pedro Alvares Cabral spent the early years of his life.


In the thirteenth century there is proof of a prosperous Jewish community. An inscription dated 1296 still remains of their synagogue. This community probably lived in the Jewish quarter located in what is today the Marrocos quarter. When the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492 by the Catholic Kings this community increased in size until 1496 when Emanuel I ruled that they had to convert to Catholicism.


This lead to persecution and the underground Jewish community was formed and survived over the centuries and continued their rituals and traditions. It was the same King who in 1510 renewed Belmonte's charter. In 1989 the Jewish community of Belmonte was officially created and their synagogue was inaugurated in 1997. The community today is one of the few to have a rabbi.


Tourist Office
Largo do Brasil – Castelo de Belmonte
6250-048 Belmonte
Telephone/Fax: 275 911 488