Paper short abstract:

This paper deals with the destiny of written stones as material remains of Judaism in Portugal. Hebraic medieval inscriptions have been turned into a heritage asset, opening the way of a specific and unusual recognition of the Jewish heritage of Portugal, ground on letters from the past.

Paper long abstract:

Apart from a Medieval synagogue and a series of supposed worship places spread around the country, Hebraic written stones are the main material testimonies of Jewish past that have survived until today in Portugal. As it occurs for other heritage objects, Hebraic medieval epigraphic stones have been turned into a heritage asset, opening the way of an unusual and specific recognition of the Jewish past of Portugal.

After the forced conversion to Catholicism, the exodus of Portuguese and Spanish Jews and concealment of their properties at the end of the 15th c., few testimonies were discovered and kept by lettered people and the Jewish community during the 20th c. A group of archaeologists and erudite historians, Jewish and non-Jewish, produced a series of publications and tempted to settle an epigraphic museum in the Medieval synagogue of Tomar. The group dedicated their efforts to the study and conservation of the writings, books and written stones.

How did letters, as material remains, lead to the cultural renewal of a religious minority past? Does this attention to letters make the Jewish past heritage-making in Portugal specific and unusual? What are the consequences on the heritage-making process itself? And what does it show of the special history of Portuguese Jews?

The investigation combines archive study and ethnographic interviews to better understand the late destiny of the material remains of Jewish religious culture in Portugal.