For several years, it was considered the “most important village in Portugal” due to its high population. When it was upgraded to a town (August 20, 1955), it lost the prominent position it held.

Birthplace of various celebrities, including Dom Nuno Álvares Pereira, also known as Nun’Álvares, the Holy Constable, and the Blessed Nuno of Santa Maria, whose canonization took place on April 26, 2009.

Cernache is a locality where there is no castle, and its monuments are not nationally famous, but interestingly, a Mission Seminar was established here, training numerous religious and lay missionaries to colonize African lands. Additionally, a college, the Vaz Serra Institute, was established here, at a time when illiteracy was more common.

These two cultural hubs generated an almost intellectually cosmopolitan environment. Figures of note from the country, such as Professor Marcelo Caetano, while serving as Prime Minister, Dr. João Soares (father of former President of the Republic Mário Soares), who had been a priest and taught for many years at the Mission Seminar, and Dr. Teófilo Braga, who visited Cernache frequently to rest when he was President of the Republic, were regular visitors. Alfredo Keil, a painter, writer, and the author of “A Portuguesa,” the Portuguese National Anthem, was often there as he lived in a nearby hamlet near the Zêzere River called Pombeira. And this is just a reminder of contemporary figures.