José Saramago described São Jorge da Beira as a village "thrown up the hillside," and perhaps there's no better image to convey the spirit of its people. Once called Cebola (Onion), after the neighboring peak, it was a land of shepherds, miners, and blacksmiths, until gaining autonomy in the 19th century and, later, the name of its patron saint.
Amidst memories of tungsten and chestnut trees, the village has reinvented itself countless times and today keeps its identity alive, visible in the Museum and in the cultural associations that preserve the heritage of schist and the mountains.