jail and temple by bugatti

Photography • Historical • posted on Jul 23, 2009

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Description

Portugal. Tomar. This is my last post of Tomar, and it is more of a story than a photo. In a street like that of my last post a plain door opens into this large room. It was a Sinagogue, a jewish temple. It is a siple building, the only odd feature are eight large jars embedded in the masonry at the corners to enhance the sound of chants, you can see the two round holes of the jar mouths in the far corner; don't know if this contraption worked. The jewish community of Tomar was mainly made up of jews expelled from Spain in 1492. They thought they were safe in Portugal, and built this place of prayer. But just five years later the king of Portugal, for dinastic reasons, married a spanish princess, and she imposed as a condition for the alliance the expulsion of the jews. The king didn't want to lose precious artisans and merchants, so the pressure to convert was much stronger than in Spain, most in fact or in appearance converted and remained. The temple was transformed into a jail. But being arrested and held into what was their former temple was too much of an insult. They requested and obtained an exemption, no former jew could be incarcerated here ...