Museums and Palaces

Intercultural Dialogue Centre of Leiria

The Intercultural Dialogue Centre of Leiria, in the heart of the city's historical centre, combines Jewish and Christian memories. Operating in the old Igreja da Misericórdia (Church of Misericórdia), built in 1544 where the local Jewish synagogue used to be, it is a museum project that has the Book as its theme, centre of the idea of Revelation. It is an element that crosses various cultures and mediates dialogues between them; and it was also the object of improvement in the old synagogue, between 1492 and 1497, by the hand of the Orta family. 

This was one of the first three printing houses in Portugal, a fundamental centre for the flourishing of Sephardic Jewish culture, with the printing of many works in Hebrew characters. Today, it is a place where the aim is to interpret the heritage left by the presence, over the centuries, of the three important monotheistic religions: Christianity, Judaism and Islam. The coexistence and the memory of these communities and identities are also valued, with special emphasis on the Jewish and New Christian ones of Leiria. The idea of the Book unites culturally and religiously these religions, this having been affirmed as the main legacy of the Jewish community of Leiria at the end of the Middle Ages.

The interpretative nucleus also occupies the well-known Casa dos Pintores (Painters House), a remarkable building in the medieval plot of the old city, where the specific exhibition on the Orta family is held. In the old Church of Misericórdia, the exceptional images of the four Evangelists, the ceiling paintings of the Christian temple, the altarpiece of the chancel in gilded woodcarving and the polychrome marbles can be seen.