In front of you is the Church of São Domingos, founded in the thirteenth century. From the outside it looks peaceful. Inside, its columns tell a different story.

1April 1506

On Sunday 19 April 1506, Lisbon was suffering from drought and plague. During a mass in this church, someone claimed to see a miraculous glow on a crucifix. A New Christian, a Jew forcibly converted, suggested it was simply a reflection of light. The crowd killed him on the spot.

Stirred up by some of the friars, the violence spread through the city for three days, aimed at the New Christians. Chroniclers of the time speak of thousands of dead: Garcia de Resende gives more than four thousand. King Manuel I, who was away from Lisbon, later punished those responsible and had the friars who incited the killing executed.

2The burnt columns

The church was damaged in the 1755 earthquake and, on 13 August 1959, a fire gutted its interior. When it reopened in 1994, the decision was made not to hide the wounds: the cracked columns and blackened walls are still there to see.

In 2008 a memorial to the Jewish victims of 1506 was unveiled on this square. Lisbon chose to remember.

3What to look out for

  • The 1506 memorial, with the Star of David, in the middle of the square.
  • The tolerance wall, with the same phrase written in dozens of languages.
  • The interior, if the church is open: the reddish columns scorched by the 1959 fire.
Interior of the Church of São Domingos with columns damaged by the 1959 fire
The columns burnt in 1959 were left on view when the church reopened in 1994.

Documented

The massacre of New Christians began in this church on 19 April 1506 and lasted three days; the 1959 fire left the damage still visible inside.

Sources and credits

Garcia de Resende, ‘Miscelânea’; Damião de Góis, ‘Crónica do Felicíssimo Rei D. Manuel’; Comunidade Israelita de Lisboa and Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, 2008 memorial.

Photos:

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