Rede de Judiarias de Portugal

Belmonte

This village located near the Serra da Estrela has now a mystical meaning in international Sephardic history. It was the only in the Iberian Peninsula where, for centuries, has remained a community-based organizational identity, without an overall assimilation by Christianity.
So we arrived at the end of the 20th century when, after 500 years, was officially decided to rebuild the Jewish community, also recognized by the Grand Rabbinate of Israel. Since 1496 were mainly mothers who passed on the knowledge, habits and religiousness from generation to generation. Not much is known about the Jewish early presence in Belmonte. However, their contribution to the village is indisputable, not only for its current presence, but also for numerous traces left by previous communities.


During the demolition of “São Francisco’s” Church, located in “Largo António José de Almeida”, in 1910, was found a stone from the first synagogue of Belmonte, from the year 1297.
By this tombstone, we know that Belmonte already had a Jewish community, certainly important and numerous, thus only justified the presence of a worship place.
It was not the Jews expelled from Spain who founded the Jewish community of Belmonte, although the proximity to the border has helped to strengthen it.


The old Jewish quarter was located around the current “Rua Direita” e “Rua Fonte da Rosa” (the primitive Jewry Street). At the top of “Rua Direita”, north, there’s a square, one of the oldest in Belmonte, which preserves a lot of its primitive architecture. There we can see small stone houses, with small openings and crosses in the doorjambs.
In 2012 began here the trademarks signage project of Portuguese Network of Jewish Quarters. Belmonte has today the national headquarters of the Network, the Bet Eliahu Synagogue and the Jewish Museum.

 

PLACES TO VISIT:
-    Castle - Castelo
-    Jewish Museum and Hebrew tombstone from 1297 - Museu Judaico e hebraico lápide de 1297
-    Museum of Brazil’s Discovery – Museu à Descoberta do Brasil
-    BET ELIAHU Synagogue – Sinagoga BET ELIAHU
-    Jewish Quarter and signage of Jewish/religious marks - Bairro Judeu e sinalização das marcas judaicas / religiosa
-    Cabrais Pantheon – Santiago Church - Panteão dos Cabrais  - Igreja de São Tiago
-    Eco-Museum of Zêzere River – Eco-Museu do Rio Zêzere
-    Olive Museum – Museu do Azeite

 

Crowned by the medieval castle, the town of Belmonte stands out for the beauty of its landscapes and monuments, for its fabulous strategic position, which has made it dominate, from immemorial times, territories and communication routes. But Belmonte also knew how to welcome people of other creeds and cultures. Here was established a Jewish Community that survived centuries and centuries, still existing today.

A way of honoring this Community and its History, the Jewish Museum of Belmonte was inaugurated in 2005April 17, the first of the country to address this theme and that became oneof  the most visited museums in the region, sought by Jews from all over the world.

In town you can also visit the Belmonte Synagogue, inaugurated on December 4, 1996 under the name of Bet Eliahu Synagogue.

In Belmonte's old Jewry we can observed small granite houses with crosses on the shoulders. These are  signalized by information signs.

In the Municipality of Belmonte, the cruciform motifs in Caria are also signalized, where they surprise by their abundance as well as by the variety of forms.

 

Address

Tourism Office – Belmonte
Largo do Brasil, Castelo de Belmonte
6250-084 Belmonte
Telephone: 275 911 488

Câmara Municipal de Belmonte: 275910010

EMPDS-Belmonte: 275088 698

Bombeiros: 275910090

Centro Saúde: 275910030

GNR Belmonte: 275910020

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