The Adro dos Judeus was the documented Jewish burial area of medieval Elvas. The reference is connected to the landscape outside the Porta de Olivença, one of the main accesses from the walled town toward the road to Olivença.

Documentary reference to the Adro dos Judeus

The strongest known record dates from 1404. In that year, João Mendes and his wife Leonor Afonso leased a ferragial, meaning a cultivated field or enclosed agricultural plot, belonging to the Monastery of Alcobaça. The land was located outside the Porta de Olivença, near the road to Olivença and close to the Rossio do concelho, the municipal open ground used by the town.

The same document states that the property bordered an azinhaga, a narrow rural lane or pathway, which led to the Adro dos Judeus. This detail is important because it preserves not only the name of the Jewish burial area, but also its relation to the rural and urban landscape around medieval Elvas.

Jewish cemetery area outside the walls

The reference places the Adro dos Judeus beyond the town walls, in a zone of paths, agricultural land, common ground and access routes. This fits the usual pattern of medieval Jewish cemeteries, which were normally located outside the residential quarter and beyond the main inhabited enclosure.

Limits of the site

The exact limits of the cemetery have not been identified. No Jewish tombstones from this site are known today. Even so, the 1404 documentary reference securely places the Adro dos Judeus in the area beyond the Porta de Olivença, within the funerary geography of medieval Elvas.