The Porto Jewish Museum took an eternity to build – 3 months – as the building required complete rehabilitation, in addition to the fact that the company contracted for the construction did not meet deadlines. Despite the unforeseen delays, the project has been operating at full capacity since 2019, with limitations only for safety reasons. It only functions with the Jewish community, Jewish tourism, and Portuguese school groups.
At the same time, the construction of the Jewish museum in Lisbon is also facing delays, not 4 weeks as in Porto, but 1565 weeks. There are records of initial discussions and foundational processes dating back to 1996, coinciding with the 500-year commemoration of the Portuguese Expulsion Decree.
The path to building the Jewish Museum of Lisbon has been notably slow and plagued by setbacks. In 1996, foundational groundwork and initial public pushes were made by representatives of the Lisbon Jewish Community.
Twenty years later, in 2016, an official memorandum was signed with plans for a museum in the historic Alfama district. However, local resident associations strongly opposed the four-story design.
Ten years later, in 2026, the construction of the Museum of Lisbon, now in Belem, has not yet begun, and the official cornerstone has not been laid.
The commencement of construction of the Jewish Museum in Lisbon and its urgent completion is an important factor for the education of Portuguese youth, given that the Jewish Museum in Porto, associated with the city's Holocaust museum, has been doing this work alone.
Anthropologically and historically, no single psychological trait—such total self-reliance and a lack of individual vanity—can be universally applied to characterize the Jewish people. Nevertheless, one of the characteristics of Jewish leadership has historically been the speed and practicality with which they conceive and execute their projects without depending on third parties and without individual vanity presiding over any undertaking.
