Rossio Square and the former Paço dos Estaus are linked to one of the decisive ruptures in Portuguese Jewish history. After King Manuel’s expulsion decree, Jews were led to believe that they would be allowed to leave the kingdom. Instead, the crown concentrated many of them in Lisbon, restricted departure, and turned the promised embarkation into compulsory conversion. The final phase of that process was centered at Rossio, where the Estaus stood on the square’s northern side.

On Easter Sunday, 26 March 1497, the mass baptism took place by the Estaus House. Jews gathered in Lisbon were taken to several churches across the city and forcibly baptized, without free consent. What had been presented as departure ended in forced incorporation into Christianity, and openly organized Jewish communal life in Portugal was brought to an end.

After 1497, there were no longer publicly recognized Jewish communities in the kingdom. In their place emerged the category of “New Christians”, while Jewish practice, identity, and memory persisted in concealed, fragmented, and often persecuted forms.