Lisbon's Jewish Sites And History Half Day Tour

Sinagoga Shaare Tikva

Guided visit to the Synagogue of lisbon

Memorial as Vitimas do Massacre Judaico de 1506

Pass-by Only

This memorial is a tribute to the victims of intolerance and religious fanaticism. Inaugurated in the framework of the 500 years since the massacre of 19 April 1506, this memorial is in the location where the massacre started, in the square opposite the St. Dominic Church, in Lisbon. On the evening of 19 April, Dominican friars instigated the population to kill the new Christians. Between 2,000 and 4,000 people have died in a barbaric form, incinerated in piles in various parts of the city. The memorial is a work of 2008 by Graça Bachmann, on a proposal from the Jewish Community. It is made of stone, a sphere, a symbol of the world, truncated that evokes violence and chaos. On the Star of David, an inscription alludes to the massacre. At the base, a rectangular block of stone where the sculpture lies, one can read a phrase from the Book of Job: "O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place". Next to this memorial, right in front of the church door, is another monument where, in 2000, the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon, José Policarpo, assumed the shame of inquisitorial persecution.

The oldest "Judiaria" (Jewish quarter) was located at the Pedreira neighbourhood (near today's Armazéns do Chiado), where a Synagogue was built in 1260. The Taracenas "Judiaria" was located on the eastern port area. The "Judiaria Velha" (large Jewish quarter) was located right at the town center, in Rua Nova dos Mercadores, and it had 7 gates. It constituted a separate body in terms of the administration of the city, with its own officials, two synagogues, a school, a library, a kosher butcher, a hospital, public baths, a court, and a prison. The only remnant is the engraved stone plaque of the construction of the synagogue, dating from 1307. Of the "Judiaria" of Alfama, authorized by King D. Pedro I, the only remain is the toponym at Rua da Judiaria.