Hill of the Jews

Hill of the Jews

The fixation of a community of Jewishorigin led that the hill of Miragaiastarted to be known like "hill of theJews". When a synagogue raised(subsequently demolished for theconstruction of the Convent of the God'sNun of Monchique), and when acemetery was installed, the ill-treatment of Monchique was formedlike what happened in the customs ofthe Victory and of the Cathedral. Thiscommunity, which with his commercialactivity greatly contributed to thedevelopment of the customs ofMiragaia, to the end of the century XIV,was transferred to the ill-treatment ofthe Olive grove and, more delay still,already in the century XV, for the streetof the Merchants, in the Riverside.
Under the reign of Manuel I of Portugal,when the real decree promulgated forthe expulsion of the Jews of thekingdom, while receiving of theChamber the communication of thesame thing, the Jews of Oporto could,without bigger constraints, board boundfor England and the Netherlands.
In the first half of the century XV, agroup of Armenians was installed inOporto, in search of refuge after the fallof Constantinopla before the TurkishEmpire in 1453. These immigrantsbrought with themselves the relics ofSaint Pantaleão, martyred in Nicomédiain 1305, which became a patron of thecity. These relics were deposited in theChurch of Miragaia, in safe from workedsilver offered by D. Manuel I, to give Igreet to one of the last arrangements ofhis predecessor, D. John II. Later, on the12th of December of 1499, same therewere transferred to the Cathedral ofOporto by order of then bishop, D. Diogoof Sousa. The Armenian community alsowas dedicated to the commerce.