Museums and Palaces

Interpretation Centre for the Sephardic Culture of the Nordeste Transmontano
The Centro de Interpretação da Cultura Sefardita do Nordeste Transmontano (Interpretation Centre for the Sephardic Culture of the Nordeste Transmontano) is a space designed to preserve the experiences of the Jewish communities who lived in the Trás-os-Montes region and whose memory is still very much alive today. Located in the historic centre of the city of Bragança, it is housed in a building reconverted by the Pritzker Prize-winning architect Souto Moura, in co-authorship with the architect Joaquim Portela.

The exhibition aims to revisit the information provided by thematic historiography about the experiences of Sephardic Jews in the region. It begins in medieval times, with the economic development of the area, and goes through the importance and place of the Brigantine financial dynasties in the Modern Age, elucidating on those who dedicated themselves to the most varied fields of knowledge, ending in religious persecution.

At the entrance of the museum, there is a large olive tree made of small dark circles, inside which are inscribed the localities of the region where there were Jewish communities. On the second floor, the various dimensions of the socio-economic life of the Jews of the region are presented: the fairs, the roads, the products produced and traded. The launch of the Diaspora in this area of the Centre is also included.

The space also has a memorial to some of Bragança's most notable figures, or descendants of families born there, such as Jacob de Castro Sarmento (1691-1762), one of the most brilliant Portuguese scientific personalities; Tomás Rodrigues Pereira (c. 1605-1699), theologian and thinker; Baltazar Oróbio de Castro (c. 1620-1687), medical lecturer at the University of Toulouse and theologian; among others. Fear is the focus of the collection on the upper floor, where a re-enactment of an Inquisition interrogation is on display and a painting by the painter Graça Morais, with the exact title "O Medo" (Fear), is exhibited.