Curaçao is an island in the Caribbean that is a self governing country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Until 2010 it was part of the Netherlands Antilles.
The photos in this collection were taken December 2015 by the Director of the Duke Divinity Library, Dr. Beth M. Sheppard. Although there are shots of general interest to help convey a bit of the flavor of the island, the focus is on Roman Catholic Churches (the predominant denomination on the Island) and Judaism. The collection does include a few photographs of cemeteries since above ground vaults are the norm on Curaçao. The history of the Jewish community stretches back to the period of the Dutch East India Company and a settlement of Sephardic Jews in the capital city, Willemstad. Rain obscures buildings in some photos, but the decision was made to include those shots anyway in the hope so that the churches photographed might at least be represented. Please note that this collection is not a comprehensive record of religious congregations and life on the island because some significant structures were not on the itinerary for this trip.
While every effort has been taken to correctly identify photos and catalog them using accurate keywords and metadata, complete accuracy is difficult to achieve. Corrections are most welcome. They may be sent, along with the static URL of the photograph for which the modification should be made to the Duke Divinity School Library at divlib@duke.edu.
Preferred citation for the digital version:
[Identification of item], [Beth M. Sheppard],Curaçao: Judaism and Christianity. Duke Divinity School Library, Duke University. [Item URL].
Copyright Information
Photographs in this collection are made available by a commercial use prohibited, attribution required, share alike, creative commons license (CC BY-NC-ShareAlike).