Elvas Jewish History House

Paying tribute to the influential Jewish community of Elvas.

The Elvas Jewish History House occupies a building that in the 16th century was transformed into a municipal butcher shop. Although there is no clear proof, this space should be part of the ancient synagogue of the city.

In the heart of the Old Jewish Quarters, the construction of a cattle slaughter room, especially pigs, may have been intended to humiliate the crypto-Jews (Jews supposedly Christians because they were baptised but who professed the Jewish faith in secret) and New Christians (descendants of Jews forcibly converted in 1497), to desecrate the space, by making it unclean.

To become the space of the old synagogue, this is the biggest discovery to date in Portugal. Twelve columns that may correspond to the twelve tribes of Israel are still visible.

The original synagogue probably occupied twice the space we see today. One of the adjacent houses has a small courtyard where you can see steps of the medieval times, a Manueline window and traces of a cistern that was possibly the water point for purification rituals of women.

At the moment, this is the only space open to visitors; a permanent exhibition about the history of some of the most celebrated Jewish families in the world will be inaugurated soon.