Marvão launches 12th International Music Festival and reopens historic Torre da Portagem

The municipality of Marvão in Portugal opened its 12th International Music Festival on 1 August 2026, featuring chamber music performances at the Igreja de Santiago and the Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Estrela. Artists include violist Nils Mönkemeyer, pianist William Youn, clarinetist Horácio Ferreira, and soprano Sumi Hwang, among others, with Maestro Pedro Teixeira conducting the festival orchestra.

On 30 July 2026 the Torre da Portagem, a medieval gateway through which thousands of Jews passed during the 1492 expulsion, was reopened to the public after a renovation and musealisation project. The restoration was carried out under the cross‑border cooperation initiative “Kaminos”, led by the Diputación de Cáceres and funded by the INTERREG VI‑A Spain‑Portugal programme (POCTEP 2021‑2027). Visitors can now learn about the Sephardic heritage of the Iberian Peninsula and Portugal’s historic role as a place of refuge.