The Sacred Mountain is located in the heart of Trás-os-Montes, in the northeast of Portugal.

It is an island-hill (quartzite inselberg) that rises above the surrounding lowlands, offering a 360° panorama that reaches long distances, especially from three notable panoramic points: Pico de Santa Comba, Cruzeiro da Escarpa da Pala and Monte do Rei de Orelhão.

​Archaeological research in the Serra began following the Christianization of the Buraco da Pala shelter in 1986. The following year, in 1987, the excavation of the shelter began, under the responsibility of Maria de Jesus Sanches. This gave rise to a vast program of studies which, following the identification, in 1988, of the shelters with schematic paintings in Regato das Bouças 2 and 3, would be extended to the entire Serra in subsequent decades. In the following years, other painted shelters were identified.

Explorations and new records culminated in the first classification as a Site of Public Interest, in 1992 (Regato das Bouças), and in the proposal to expand the areas of the Serra to be safeguarded, presented in 2014.

2020-2025 – Multiannual Archaeology Project (PIPA) and EscapArte Project

Between 2020 and 2025, two projects will run almost simultaneously:

1.Multiannual Project in Archaeology (PIPA), coordinated by Joana Castro Teixeira – “The rock art of Serra de Passos-Santa Comba in the context of the Iberian Peninsula. Ways of sharing graphics in the context of the social and ideological integration of communities in Recent Prehistory” (2020) – currently in its final phase, coinciding with her doctoral thesis.

2. EscarpArte heritage enhancement project (2021-2023, extended to 2025) – “Feeling the Escarpments of Serra de Passos/Santa Comba. A journey of seven thousand years”. Developed under the Promove – the Future of the Interior 2020 program, it is funded by the BPI/La Caixa Foundation and the Mirandela Municipality. It is the result of a partnership between the Municipality of Mirandela, the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto, the company Octopetala Lda. and the Mountain Research Collaborative Laboratory (MORE). The project aims to create a visitable trail in the Serra – between Passos and Buraco da Pala, passing through Shelter 2 of Regato das Bouças. By opening up this heritage to the public, the project seeks to reconcile dissemination and enjoyment with research and safeguarding. Although it focuses on creating a visitable route, it also includes a solid component of scientific research.

2026-2029 – The near future

A new research project, with a holistic approach to the Sacred Mountain, is being prepared by a team linked to the Transdisciplinary Research Center “Culture, Space and Memory” of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto (CITCEM/FLUP), the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), the company Dryas Octopetala and the Spanish universities of Alcalá de Henares and Vigo (Polo de Ourense).The first phase is scheduled to take place between 2026 and 2029.