Faro Jewish Heritage Centre

Museum

The Faro Jewish Heritage Centre occupies a site on the Rua de Sao Pedro, in what was the medieval Jewish quarter, or judiaria, of the city. The centre documents the history of the Jewish community that played a significant role in Faro's cultural and economic life from at least the thirteenth century until the forced conversions and expulsions ordered by King Manuel I in 1496.

The most significant exhibit is a replica of the Faro Incunabula, the first book printed in Portugal. The original Pentateuch was produced in Faro in 1487 by Samuel Gacon, a Jewish printer, using Hebrew characters. Only a handful of copies survive, held in institutions including the British Library and the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. The existence of a Hebrew printing press in Faro speaks to the sophistication and learning of the community before its destruction.

The centre also preserves the remains of the medieval Jewish cemetery, discovered during construction work in the 1990s. Tombstones with Hebrew inscriptions dating from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are displayed in the courtyard, providing tangible evidence of the community that lived and worked in these streets.

The history of Portuguese Jewry is one of the most complex and painful chapters in the nation's past. Many of those who accepted forced conversion became New Christians, or conversos, but continued to practise their faith in secret. The Inquisition, established in Portugal in 1536, targeted these crypto-Jews for generations. The heritage centre tells this story with sensitivity and scholarly rigour, placing Faro's Jewish community within the broader context of Iberian Jewish culture and the Sephardic diaspora.