Damião de Góis Museum and of the Inquisition Victims - Alenquer

Tribute to the Humanist Damião de Góis and to the victims of the Inquisition.

The Church of Santa Maria da Várzea is dedicated to the figure of Damião de Góis and to the importance of the Jewish community in Alenquer, paying tribute to the memory of the victims of the Inquisition.

This church is one of the most important sites for the memory of the victims of the religious persecution and cultural intolerance in Portugal, for two dramatic reasons.

The Jews residing in Alenquer were accused of starting a fire that wiped out that religious space, which led to the expulsion of the village at the end of the 15th century, after having been ordered to rebuild the church.

Damião de Góis (1502-1574), who was born and died in Alenquer, was buried here. Góis, the most important Portuguese Humanist, a guest of Erasmus of Rotterdam, royal senior official having travelled throughout Europe at the service of the King of Portugal, at the end of his life, he was imprisoned by the Inquisition, because of his believes, not because he was Jewish. Accused of having followed Luther's ideas was only freed when his health condition was unrecoverable.