Alleytale

Marvão: inside the walls of the village on the rock: a self-guided walk

By Alleytale

Distance: 1.1 kmDuration: 41 minClimb: 15 mStops: 5

A walled hilltop village on the Spanish border, from the castle down through its churches

The castle's walls enclose the whole village, so this walk is a slow descent from the fortress through the village's churches and chapels to the old convent.

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The stops

  1. The castle crowns a quartzite crag that is 867 metres high at the keep, and its walls enclose the whole village. Its construction is attributed to the 9th-century knight Ibn Marwan, who began to live here in 876 or 877, though the medieval castle you see dates from after 1299. Look for the huge cistern, with a vaulted ceiling held up by ten stone ribs, which collected rain to supply the castle in a siege.

    Castle of Marvão
    Photo: António Amen — CC BY-SA 3.0

  2. The parish memoirs of 1758 call this the oldest church in Marvão. It was rebuilt in the 14th century and again in the 16th, when it gained three naves, and its curved chancel still has a ribbed vault and wall paintings of saints. Today the building houses the Marvão Municipal Museum.

    Church of Santa Maria and Municipal Museum
    Photo: Jelger Groeneveld — CC BY 2.0

  3. A parish church was founded here in the 14th century under the Order of the Hospital, later the Order of Malta, and it still keeps its medieval structure, the pointed arches of its three naves and a pointed portal set in a gable. Inside, look for the 17th-century patterned tiles around the side chapel and the Baroque altarpieces.

    Church of São Tiago
    Photo: Maria Helena Cardoso — CC BY-SA 3.0

  4. This 19th-century chapel has a polygonal plan and a domed roof, and it stands on granite outcrops in the lower part of the walled village. It opens onto a small cobbled square with wooden benches.

    Chapel of the Calvary
    Photo: Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL — CC BY-SA 2.0

  5. The convent was founded in 1448, with the authorisation of Pope Nicholas V, on the site of an older chapel of Our Lady of the Star. Local legend says the image of Our Lady was hidden by Roderic, the last Visigothic king, at the time of the Muslim invasion of 711, and was found only when Marvão was freed from Islamic rule. Today the building is the seat of the town's Santa Casa da Misericórdia and houses a residence for older people.

    Convent of Our Lady of the Star
    Photo: Mentxuwiki — CC BY-SA 4.0

Hear the full story as you walk, or create your own walk, in the Alleytale app.