Bragança Memorial and Sephardic Documentation Centre

Physical and virtual reunion with Sephardic culture.

The Bragança Memorial and Sephardic Documentation Centre is a space that complements and dialogues with the Sephardic Culture Interpretation Centre of North-East Trás-os-Montes. This is intended to be another contribution to preserving the Sephardic memory and presence in Bragança.

This Memorial is a physical and virtual space for the reunion of a society that wants to know its own past, free from preconceived ideas, to build a future that does not race against identities, many times forgotten, unknown or hidden.

The exhibition circuit focuses on religious practice and on family and community life, and is mainly educational. Everyday experiences are at the heart of the intended message; it aims at looking at knowledge or emotion in the reunion of that obliterated, forgotten or disguised memory.

The journey begins with the reception in a small synagogue (-1 floor), rebuilding the space for Jewish religious cult. Although Bragança does not have a resident Jewish community with religious activity to justify the daily use of that space, visitors will be able to practice some rituals.

Alongside the religious dimension, the expository dimension provides information about their own synagogue, the nature of the meeting and of the community, their rhythms and the religious calendar, and the focus on the Holy text, the Torah. The design of this space involves a link between the ideas of a religious life and transfer of knowledge, for a better contextualization of this experience.

The woman's place, rites and festivals are also covered (1st floor), giving particular emphasis to family gestures and everyday rites. Videos display scenes of sephardic rites.

On the top floor (2nd floor), there is a memory archive and an online documentation centre, which helps to reflection and research on the Sephardic presence in the region of Bragança that is documented since the 15th century. All residents and Sephardic descendants of the region of Bragança can deliver their testimony and material or textual memories.