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Brief history of the Synagogue

   The Synagogue of Tomar was built between 1430 and 1460, important place of worship from the fifteenth century, is the oldest Jewish temple in Portugal still in good condition and preserved in its original architectural structure.

Evidence of the existence of a jewish communnity at the beginning of the fourteenth century is on an inscription on the tombstone of Rabbi Joseph of Tomar, who died in Faro in the year 1315.

The synagogue was a place of worship and assembly of Jews during a very short period. In fact, in December 1496, King Manuel I, at the insistence of his bride, Spanish Princess Castile D. Elizabeth, has published a decree requiring Jews to convert to Christianity or leaving Portugal by the end of October 1497.

Some Jews agreed to receive baptism, others were forced to become the so-called "New Christians." But many, though baptized, continued to practice Judaism in secret and were dubbed the "Marranos."

After the Edict of 1496, the synagogue of Tomar failed to fulfill the functions for which it was built. The synagogue was thus chain between 1542 and 1550, probably until the final installation of the prison space in the House of Tomar.

A document dated from the early seventeenth century indicates that the synagogue has had yet another use after it closed as a prison. The parish records of St. John the Baptist tell us what was in the 'New Street' a chapel of St. Bartholomew where a wedding was celebrated in 1613. It was not possible today to determine the date on which the building was desecrated, but according to João dos Santos Simões, this occurred in the nineteenth century.

More than two centuries later, on June 1, 1885, it is known that the synagogue was being used as a barn, owned by José Joaquim Araujo, who later sold it to Antonio Vieira da Silva Neves. With his death, the son in law, Joaquim Cardoso Tavares, became the new owner of the property.

During a study trip to take on 10 June 1920, Colonel Garcez Teixeira, accompanied by a group of Portuguese archaeologists, finds that the synagogue was being used as a barn and a grocery store. A year later, by decree of July 29, 1921, the property is declared a National Monument.

On May 5, 1923, the Polish engineer and researcher Samuel Schwarz undertakes to purchase the building of the synagogue in order to preserve the abandonment and ruin. Schwarz then launches the first cleaning and restoration and excavations of the temple.

A decade later, in 1933, the Board of Tourism began to make efforts to purchase the property there to install a museum Luso-Hebrew. Issues related to lack of funds prevented the transaction, but Samuel Schwarz donated the synagogue to the State in  March 29, 1939, on condition that there would be installed a Portuguese-Hebrew museum.

The President of the Government at that time, Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, visited the synagogue before accepting the donation of Schwarz and then wrote him to praise his efforts on behalf of Jewish culture in Portugal.

The creation of the museum was formalized by Ministerial Order of July 27, 1939, beginning his studies for the installation of a museum that also encompassed a insight into the cultural activities more representative of the ancient Jews of Portugal.

A curious aspect of the synagogue is its sound: you hear a voice from any point without a speaker has the need to elevate the tone.

In 1985, during an intervention on the floor of the temple, it was discovered the neck of a jar. The excavation started at the time allowed to find a sewage built in brick covered with large flat slabs, a furnace for the heating water and a wall mikvah (ritual bath of purification).

It was also discovered several currencies in the time of D. Afonso V and his descendants, thus confirming that the synagogue was built in the mid-fifteenth century and the temple was enlarged and rebuilt in the years that followed.

Since then and until today, the synagogue regularly hosts ceremonies in memory of Samuel Schwarz, but almost nothing has been done in the past 70 years with a view to achieving the Portugueses-Hebrew museum. The most noted is the ambiguity and differences that persist between those who claim the management of the museum.

The Association of Friends of the Synagogue of Tomar (AAST), established in June 2011, set itself the objective of returning the temple his main mission: to safeguard and promote the heritage of Jewish culture in Portugal.

AAST / end


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