01/31/2020 The City of Monforte highlighted in Fitur the value of the city around its Sephardic heritage and the imprint that the Jewish community left in the city, at an artistic and cultural level. Monforte de Lemos is part of the Red de Juderías de España, along with two other Galician towns, Ribadavia and Tui.
Monforte de Lemos is a clear example of the survival of Jewish culture until long after the Decree of the Catholic Monarchs. Framed in the heart of Ribeira Sacra, of which it is capital, the city is distributed around an old military bulwark, symbol of the lordship of the Counts of Lemos, protectors throughout the centuries of a Jewish community.
Jews of Monforte lived in different areas, the aljama enjoyed for centuries of a high level of coexistence with its neighbors. Abandoned in the sixteenth century as a result of the stability brought to the territory by the Catholic Monarchs, the old Monforte, the “strong mountain” built on the top of the hill of San Vicente, was gradually descending, towards the banks of the River Cabe, leaving buried a trace of history in which the Jews were protagonists of exception.
From the cryptic stars of the Tower of Tribute to the trail of the old Jewish houses on streets such as Falagueira, Zapaterías or Pescaderías, everything in Monforte tells us about its medieval past. Also the "trabuleiros", small counters from which merchants dispatched their merchandise in the Middle Ages, today a symbol of a prosperous and commercial town. The house of the Gaibor, family of wealthy converts. Also the beautiful scene of the Jewish circumcision of Jesus, carved by Francisco de Moure in the Compañía School, monumental building, known as the Galician Escorial.
In 2019, the Monforte City Council pays tribute to all the Jewish families and converses who lived in the city, placing a monolith and planting an olive tree. Streets and squares full of flavor and mystery, whose visit is extended to the Plaza de España or to the group of houses of Abelardo Baanante, all under the sign of this Sacred Ribeira, marked by the ancestral friendly character of wine.
The City Council took to Fitur a video about the Jewish past of Monforte You can access to the video from here
More information about Monforte in the Red de Juderías de España
