Amsterdam's Golden Age

The flourishing and cultural life of the important Jewish community of Portugal came to an abrupt end in 1497 when all the Jews in the Kingdom were forced by law to embrace Christianity, becoming cristãos-novos ("New Christians" in Portuguese). Following more than a century of life under the open eye of the Inquisition, strict legal restrictions, and discrimination, some of the New Christians immigrated to the Netherlands, which allowed them to return to Judaism and establish new life. The Portuguese community created in Amsterdam in the course of the 17th century became one of the most prosperous and culturally advanced Jewish communities of the time, which some historians consider the first modern Jewish community. In the lecture, we will discover the history and culture of the new community through the visual materials that Judaic art that the community commissioned.