Belmonte
The marranos that have been living in Belmonte are sometimes referred to as the “Belmonte Jews.” They are a community that has survived in secrecy for hundreds of years by maintaining a tradition of endogamyand by hiding all the external signs of their faith. The community in the municipality of Belmonte, Cova da Beira subregion, Portugal, goes back to the 12th century […]
New Christian or convert was the name given in Portugal, Spain and Brazil to Jews and Muslims converted to Christianity, in contrast to the Old Christians. There have always been ethnic and religious minorities in Portugal, being Jews, Moors and later Roma, the most significant contingent. The first probably prior to the invasions of the […]
B’nei anusim (in Portuguese, “children forced”) designating the descendants of Jews forcibly converted (anusim) or Marrano is a generic Hebrew expression and historiographical concept that refers to Jews converted to Christianity of the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula that “judaizavam”, that is, who continued to secretly observe their ancient customs and their former religion. […]
The Jewish Museum of Belmonte, is a museum that depicts the long history of the Jewish community in the region that resisted long years and centuries of religious persecution. It is the first museum of its kind in Portugal, located in the last redoubt of criptojudaica community then installed around the fifteenth century. The museum […]
This is a unique monument lytic currently in ruins, over the centuries has attracted the attention of onlookers and scholars, raising many different legends and theories around him. One of the traditions, for example, states that the building would have been a prison with a hundred cells (hence the name), which would have been captive […]
