Aldeias Históricas de Portugal

Villages

Bet Eliahu Synagogue

Belmonte

Belmonte

Near the castle is the synagogue, a modern building designed by architect Neves Dias. It was opened in 1996, 500 years after King Manuel I’s edict expelling the Jews from Portugal. The temple faces Jerusalem and displays the Menorah on the door and bars and the Star of David on the gates. Belmonte most likely had a synagogue in the 13th century. There are no traces of it but its existence is proven by a stone in the Jewish Museum.