Solar do Capitão-Mor, in Faro, is relevant to Jewish history because in the nineteenth century it became the residence of the family of Abraão Amram, one of the most prominent figures in the city’s modern Jewish community. The house itself was completed in 1751 for the Desembargador Veríssimo de Mendonça Manuel and is regarded as one of the best examples of Baroque domestic architecture in Faro. Municipal and heritage sources also note that, while in the hands of the Amram family, the building underwent interior alterations.

The Amram Family

The Amrams belonged to the modern Sephardic Jewish community that took shape in Faro during the nineteenth century, within the broader movement of Jews of Moroccan origin who settled in the Algarve. One source on Faro’s Jewish history states that the first Jew to arrive in the city was Shmuel Amram, who came from Tangier in 1813. By the later nineteenth century, the family was fully established in Faro’s economic and social life.

Abraão Amram in Faro

Abraão Amram, usually dated 1866-1918, appears in local historical writing as one of the richest and most influential Jews in Faro. He was associated with the prosperous Jewish elite of the city and with the commercial world that linked Faro to cork and other sectors of the regional economy. His public standing is reflected in the fact that he served as president of Clube Farense in 1899, which places him firmly within the city’s urban elite.