| Cemetery Description: |
Data from the book "Inscrições Hebraicas em Portugal" by Samuel Schwarz and published in Lisboa by Tip. do Comercio, 1923. The book details what the author defines as old Jewish stones existing in Portugal, seems that "old" is anything before the 20th century.
The author attributes this lack of Jewish signals until modern times to King Manuel 1 who unleashed the Inquisition and exiled all the Jews in 1496, destroyed the cemeteries and synagogues all over the country, and used the stones for urban construction.
In the following centuries and until about the middle of century 19 the Inquisition was active and did not tolerate any Jews or Jewish symbols in Portugal. Therefore the only old burial stones he could find after research were:
* Two (x2) stones from a place called Espiche from the centuries 6 or 7. These stones are at the Carmo Archeological Museum (Lisbon).
* One (x1) stone from a place called Faro dated year 1315. It is mounted in a wall at the actual Jewish cemetery of Faro.
* One (x1) stone from Beja dated 1378 actually at the Evora Archeological Museum.
The author spent a lot of time and efforts piecing together what is written at the stones; the information is sparse. All data of course updated to the year 1923. Another 3 stones mentioned in the book are not funerary but prayers or narrative.
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