Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE JEWS OF BELMONTE
When the Moors ruled Portugal, it's estimated that 10% of the country's population was Jewish. Jews remained
vital to the young Christian state, serving as government ministers and filling key roles in Henry the Navigator's
school devoted to overseas exploration. The current Duke of Bragança, hereditary king of Portugal, proudly ac-
knowledges his own Jewish parentage.
When Portugal embraced Spain's Inquisitorial zeal beginning in the 1490s, thousands of Jews from both Por-
tugal and Spain fled to northeast Portugal, including the Beiras and Trás-os-Montes, where the arm of the Inquis-
itors had not yet reached. However it wasn't too long before the Inquisitors made their presence felt even here,
and Jews once again faced conversion, expulsion or death.
However, in the 1980s it was revealed that in the town of Belmonte, 30km south of Guarda, a group of families
had been practising Jewish rites in secret since the Inquisition - over 500 years. While many such communities
continued in secrecy well into the Inquisition, most slowly died out. But Belmonte's community managed to sur-
vive five centuries by meticulously ensuring marriages were arranged only among other Jewish families. The
transmission of Jewish tradition was oral and passed from mother to daughter. Each Friday night families descen-
ded into basements to pray and celebrate the Sabbath. Now that the community is out in the open, they have em-
braced male-dominated Orthodox Judaism, though the women elders have not forgotten the secret prayers that
have been doggedly transmitted these past 500 years.
The Museu Judaico de Belmonte ( 275 913 505; Rua Portela 4; adult/child €2.50/1.50; 9am-12.30pm
& 2-5.30pm Tue-Sun mid-Sep-mid-Apr, 9.30am-1pm & 2.30-6pm Tue-Sun mid-Apr-mid-Sep) is a well-presen-
ted display of Jewish artefacts, mostly modern, with some history about the 20th-century re-establishment of
Judaism in Portugal. Ask here about visiting the town's synagogue.
There are several other little museums in Belmonte, one on olive oil, and one on Portugal's New World discov-
eries - the explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, known as the discoverer of Brazil, was born here. See www.cm-bel-
monte.pt for more details.
There are frequent daily bus connections between Belmonte and Guarda.
Getting There & Away
BUS
Rede Expressos ( 271 212 720; www.rede-expressos.pt ) runs services at least three times daily to
the following destinations:
Castelo Branco (€10.80, 1¾ hours)
Coimbra (€13.50, 2¾ hours)
Covilhã (€6, 45 minutes)
Lisbon (€17.50, 4½ hours)
Porto (€14, three hours)
Viseu (€8.90, one hour)
Marques ( 238 312 858; www.marques.pt ) goes daily via Gouveia (€4.35, 1½ hours) and Seia
(€4.75, two hours). Rede Expressos also goes to Seia (€10.50, 70 minutes) once daily
Sunday to Friday.
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