The Casa da Memória da Presença Judaica is a municipal museum located at Rua das Olarias nº 43, in the historic centre of Castelo Branco. It is dedicated to the Jewish presence in the city, the former Judiaria, and the memory of Jews and New Christians persecuted by the Inquisition.

The museum and its building

The museum opened on 11 November 2016, in buildings acquired and rehabilitated by the Municipality of Castelo Branco. During the intervention, a significant section of the old city wall was kept visible inside the building. The museum was created to present the Jewish history of Castelo Branco through the former Judiaria, local rituals, objects associated with Jewish life, the Inquisition, and figures connected to the city.

The exhibition begins on the ground floor, with reception and shop, where publications and kosher products are available. The same level introduces the foundation of the Judiaria of Castelo Branco, Jewish rituals and festivals, and the mechanisms of inquisitorial persecution.

Casa da Memória da Presença Judaica and the Inquisition

Between the ground floor and the first floor is the Memorial das Vítimas Albicastrenses da Inquisição. This memorial records 329 identified and studied Inquisition processes connected to Castelo Branco. Within this group, 21 people are identified as having died as a result of inquisitorial persecution.

This section is the strongest documentary core of the museum. It connects the Jewish and New Christian history of Castelo Branco not only to the medieval Judiaria, but also to the long afterlife of forced conversion, surveillance, denunciation and trial before the Portuguese Inquisition.

Jewish and New Christian figures

The first floor is dedicated to Jewish and New Christian figures from Castelo Branco, including Amato Lusitano, Afonso de Paiva, Maria Gomes, Elias de Montalto, Moisés de Montalto and Manuel Joaquim Henriques de Paiva. The museum presents these figures within a wider timeline of Jewish presence in Portugal and beyond.

The upper level includes a study and research area, with access to documents, a physical library and digital material related to Jewish history, New Christians and the Inquisition.