 On 5 May 1923, the then owner of the building, Joaquim Cardoso Tavares, sold it to the Polish scholar Samuel Schwarz, who restored the building and conducted the first excavations.Schwarz donated the building on 27 July 1939 to the Portuguese government with the condition that it be turned into a museum; in return, Schwarz and his wife were granted Portuguese citizenship that protected them during the Second World War.Since 1939, the building has functioned as the small Abraham Zacuto Portuguese Jewish Museum.