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Portagem Bridge

Tradition has it that Portagem Bridge, over Sever River, was one of the tollgates established by King John II of Portugal (1455-1495), to control and tax the entry of Jews expelled from Castile and Aragon, in Spain; hence the name of the small village of Portagem, near Marvão. It is an important bridge in the collective mentality of the locals; integrated in a Roman road, it is possible that it still has foundations from that time.

According to chroniclers from the time of the tollgate, around 15,000 Jews entered the kingdom from Alcântara in Castile. The tower, believed to have been built in the 14th century, controlled passage on the bridge and charged for each person entering the kingdom. Today, a memorial to the refugees who made the crossing in 1492 is present in the building.

Many of these people gathered in a makeshift refugee camp near Castelo de Vide. Some of them settled in nearby villages, but others died before they could leave the vicinity of this tollgate.

Around the Bridge, there is also a set of legends that associate its construction to a pact with the devil, a narrative relatively common to ancient bridges of the Iberian Peninsula, especially those of Roman origin.