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JEWISH Barcelona

Jewish city story of Barcelona

Barcelona’s Jewish Community: One of Europe’s Oldest

The stunning city of Barcelona is known for being one of the most beautiful cities in all of Europe. However, not many know that Barcelona the city is rich with Jewish history, culture, and heritage. On his visit to Barcelona in 1862, famed Danish author Hans Christen Anderson remarked that Barcelona was the “Paris of Spain.” True the city does seem to carry a joie-de-vivre of its own never running short on food, wine, music, history, or art. However Barcelona history began well before the time of Gaudi and Dali.  The city was settled over 2,000 years ago as a Roman colony called Barcino. So named for the Roman Emperor Augusta Faventia Paterna Barcino.  The settlement was used as an outpost and port for trading. This new economic opportunity came the city’s very first Jewish community.

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Jewish Quarters

The old Jewish quarter of Barcelona, located in the city’s Gothic quarter. Although few vestiges remain, in the Centre d'Interpretació del Call visitors can get a good idea of what life was like for the Jewish community of Barcelona during the Middle Ages. The Call or Jewish Quarter forms part of what is now the Gothic Quarter. It was one of the city’s centres of culture in the Middle Ages and home to two synagogues. One of them, the Sinagoga Major, is one of Europe’s oldest, as it is believed to date back to the 6th century. The Jewish Quarter was home to schools, baths and hospitals, but now only a few houses are left standing. It was surrounded by two city walls on the limits of the old Roman settlement. The Jews, however, did not close themselves off from the rest of city as they had houses and workshops outside of these city walls. In the early 13th century the population had grown so much that the Call Menor, the smaller Jewish quarter, was created. Now practically nothing remains of it. The Call Major, the larger Jewish quarter, is home to the Sinagoga Major or Shlomo ben Aderet Synagogue, as it is also known, after the man who was the 13th-century leader of Catalan Judaism, the Rabbi of Barcelona and a banker to kings like James I (the Conqueror). It was the centre of Jewish life in the city until the start of the attacks on the community, the most serious of which, in 1391, ended with the death of 300 Jews. In the following years Jewish cemeteries and synagogues were destroyed and Jews were forced to convert to Christianity. Due to the expulsion decreed by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492, the quarter fell into decline and its buildings were converted. The Sinagoga Major became a dye works and the Sinagoga Menor was transformed into a Trinitarian convent, of which today only the parish church on Carrer de Ferran dedicated to Saint James remains.

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Tours of Barcelona

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מדריכים בעיר CITY GUIDES

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קראו עוד בלוגים וספרים אלקטרוניים READ MORE BLOGS AND EBOOKS

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Summary
The story of the Jewish people in Europe is long and rich; a journey of discovery to this heritage at ancient and modern sites, and in museums and neighborhoods will undoubtedly surprise and touch you deeply. Learn of the innumerable contributions that the Jewish community has made to society despite waves of unspeakable persecution
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Summary
Exploring the space once occupied by the two Jewish quarters of the city is an exercise in memory and respect: barely anything remains of what those neighborhoods were, beyond the layout and some city buildings linked to their history, like the Cathedral and the Almudaina Palace. The day-to-day life of the Jews who lived in that twisted network of small alleyways.
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Summary
In the Neolithic period, there was already a human presence in the territory of Barcelona. But it was not until the end of the 1st century BC that the city was founded as a Roman colony under the name of Barcino. For 85 years, Barcelona was under Muslim rule, and with the Christian reconquest, it became a County of the Carolingian Empire and the permanent residence of the Crown of Aragon. The fruitful medieval period turned Barcelona into the economic and political center of the Mediterranean.
World Jewish Travel Official August 2, 2022

The Jewish Story of Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona’s Jewish Community: One of Europe’s Oldest The stunning city of Barcelona is known for being one of the most beautiful cities in all of Europe. However, not many know that Barcelona the city is rich with Jewish history, culture, and heritage. On his visit to Barcelona in 1862, famed Danish author Hans Christen Anderson remarked that Barcelona was the “Paris of Spain.” True the city does seem to carry a joie-de-vivre of its own never running short on food, wine, music, history, or art. However Barcelona history began well before the time of Gaudi and Dali.  The city was settled over 2,000 years ago as a Roman colony called Barcino. So named for the Roman Emperor Augusta Faventia Paterna Barcino.  The settlement was used as an outpost and port for trading. This new economic opportunity came the city’s very first Jewish community.

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Summary
In Spain, the Routes of Sefarad –the yearned-for homeland of our Jewish siblings- are replete with vineyards. During the harvest season they show their green vegetal exuberance, announcing an excellent vintage year- an irresistible invitation for a trip combining wine and Jewish quarters.
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