Leiria Intercultural Dialogue Centre

The memory of an important printing centre in the 15th century.

The Leiria Intercultural Dialogue Centre brings together the Jewish, Christian and Islamic memories. In the heart of the historical centre of Leiria, the Intercultural Dialogue Centre operates in the old Misericórdia Church, built in 1544 in the place where the synagogue of the local Jewish community once stood.

The theme of the book is the museum project, an element that runs across diverse cultures, emerging as a factor in the aggregation and communication between different mentalities. The book is also subject to improvements in the Jewish typography of Leiria, run by the Orta family between 1492 and 1497. This was one of the three printing houses in Portugal, a fundamental centre for the development of Sephardic Jewish culture, due to printing a significant number of works in Hebrew characters.

The Intercultural Dialogue Centre aims to interpret the inheritance left by the presence of the three great monotheistic religions over the centuries: Christianity, Judaism and Islam. It also values the coexistence and the memory of these communities and identities, particularly Jewish and New Christianity memories of Leiria.

This dialogue, between the monotheistic traditions takes place through the book, the centre of the idea of Revelation. It is not just the idea of the Book that unites these religions both culturally and religiously, but also publishing takes a unique role in the Jewish community of Leiria in the late Middle Ages.

At the Misericórdia Church, you can see exceptional images of the four Evangelists, on the paintings on the ceiling of the Christian Temple, the altarpiece of the main Chapel in gilded carved wood and polychrome marbles.

The interpretive centre includes, apart from the old Misericórdia Church, the famous Painters House, an iconic building of the medieval old town, a space dedicated to exhibiting works by the Orta family, the important printers of Leiria.