Greater Girona

The province of Girona is home to some of the most important landmarks and relics that bear witness to the time the Jewish community lived in Catalonia. In the capital, Girona, you’ll find the Museum of Jewish History and the Nahmanides Institute for Jewish Studies, as well as places that are unique to the Iberian Peninsula, such as the sacred mikveh in the beautiful town of Besalú and important archaeological finds dating from Roman times in Castelló d’Empúries. The area is an absolute must to visit. Create your own route!

Girona

After 1492, when the last of the Jews had been driven out of the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, the traces of a community who, until that time, had played an important and active role in their history, were gradually erased. Five centuries have elapsed and now, at last, we have reclaimed the legacy of all the families who had to leave their homes because they belonged to a religion different to Christianity. Girona and the Costa Brava had a particularly vibrant Jewish culture. In Girona, the Jewish Quarter – the part of the old town where the Jews once lived –, the Museum of Jewish History and the Nahmanides Institute for Jewish Studies, which is dedicated to research and reclaiming the city’s Jewish heritage, bear witness to the time they spent in the city. The nearby town of Besalú preserves some of the most iconic elements associated with Jewish culture, such as the mikveh and the Gate of the Jews. And Castelló d’Empúries provides a unique opportunity to visit archaeological ruins from the Roman era which bear witness to the arrival of the Jews in Catalonia. These visits will allow you to rediscover and reclaim unique heritage sites that are part of the Network of Spanish Jewish Quarters.

Patronat Call de Girona

Patronat Call de Girona

The Centre Bonastruc ça Porta de Girona is home to the Patronat Call de Girona, the trust responsible for restoring Girona’s physical and cultural Jewish heritage , as well as bringing the Jewish Quarter to life. The centre is named after one of Girona’s leading rabbis, who was also a world-renowned Talmudist, Kabbalist and scholar, and is also home to the Museum of Jewish History and the Nahmanides Institute for Jewish Studies.

Museum of Jewish History

Museum of Jewish History

The Museum of Jewish History helps preserve the history of the Jewish community in Catalonia through documents, archaeological landmarks and insights into its iconic figures. Its collections mostly come from Jewish Girona and its eleven galleries give visitors a glimpse of the everyday lives of the Jewish community during the Middle Ages and focus on their decisive contribution to the cultural and scientific development of the country.

Nahmanides Institute for Jewish Studies

Nahmanides Institute for Jewish Studies

Given Girona’s rich and varied heritage, it was only logical to set up an institute for researching and studying Girona’s Jewish history . It was founded in 1997 and named after the eminent rabbi, Mossé ben Nahman, or Nahmanides, who hailed from the city. Through its endeavours, the institute has traced Jewish ancestry and families as well as the history of Jewish women, and brought its findings into the public domain. The institute also has a specialised library that is open to the public.

Jewish Besalú

Jewish Besalú

Besalú oozes history from every corner: every street, square and building provides clues to the town’s past and the people that have lived there through the centuries. The Jewish community that thrived from the end of the 9” to the 15” century is a case in point and its valuable historical legacy can be appreciated on this route through the call, Besalu’s Jewish quarter that has its origin in the Jewish community who lived there in centuries past.

The Mikvah was discovered by chance. The entrance was found during the excavations to find a well.After doing the archeological studies, Rabi Mordoc of Paris and Rabi Salzer of Marseille were asked for their help in order to discover the exact characteristics and function of the building. Following investigations, Rabi Chilli of Paris concluded that the building was a Mikvah or Jewish Purification Baths, because it complied exactly with the requirements for these building ; possessing a capacity of 40 saha, a direct access to natural spring water and an access into the baths with determined number of steps. In 1966 Besalú was declared a national historic and artistic monument because of its great architectural value; thanks in part to the discovery of the Mikvah, nowadays in Spain there are only two buildings with these characteristics.

The word Mikvah means Jewish Purifications Baths. The baths consist of an underground chamber with an access of 36 steps. It is a Romanesque stone structure. The stone used in the construction of the baths is "travertine" the same as the rest of medieval buildings in the village. It possesses a stone mullion window, a barrelled roof and a rectangular bath. On the third step down to the bath there is an orifice which controls the level of water which is filtered naturally.

The function of the baths is the spiritual purifications before and after important events in the life of a Jew. The person must be prepared and has to wash himself before. After the preparation, he goes down the last 7 steps to the bath and submerges himself 3 times in the water. A Jewish woman purifies herself at specific occasions during her life: after menstruation, during pregnancy, after giving birth and before getting married. It is an important part of the conversion to Judaism and for religious men who always purify themselves before the Sabbath

Don’t miss:

Besalú, Jewish town: first weekend in March, devoted to Jewish culture.
European Jewish Culture Day (www.redjuderias.org).
You can also participate in guided tours to Niqvé. Departure from Besalu Tourist Office at 12pm to 13:15pm, 16.30h to 17h. Advance booking on 97259 12 40.

Besalú is the setting for the book Bridge of the Jews by Martí Gironell that has become one of the best-selling Catalan books of recent years. The novel, which recreates the construction of the famous bridge, is one of the sources of inspiration of the guided tours that visit the town. Other parts of La Garrotxa such as the Alta Garrotxa have also served as the inspiration for local novelists.

Castelló d’Empúries.The jewish call.

Castelló d’Empúries.The jewish call.

The Jewish Quarter, or Call, in Castelló d’Empúries, was the most important in the diocese after the one in Girona. Most of what we know about it comes from the wealth of surviving documents that have enabled us to locate the two synagogues, cemeteries, the extensions of the Jewish quarter, and learn about the running and structure of the Aljama and the appointment of its secretaries.

The town of Castelló d'Empúries reached the pinnacle of its splendour in the Middle Ages. In the 11th century, it became the capital of the county of Empúries and the legal, administrative, political and economic centre under its feudal jurisdiction.

The first Jewish Quarter in Castelló d’Empúries was built in the first half of the 13th century, in the south-east of the town, around the Puig de l’Eramala district, where the first synagogue was built. It is still known as the carrer dels Jueus (Street of the Jews). Few documents about the synagogue survive, although there are records spanning the transfer of its ownership in the late 13th century to its recovery in the 15th century. The building fell into disuse as the population of the Aljama grew, making it necessary to build a new synagogue closer to the town centre, in the Puig Mercadal district. Today two of the most iconic casals, or mansions, in Castelló d’Empúries stand on the site of the first synagogue. Can Sanllehí and Can Cassanyes are located to the north and west of the synagogue and may have been built on the site of the homes of two preeminent and wealthy Jews: Bernat Bussiges, a merchant, and Cresques Bonafos Susau.

The Jewish Quarter attained the height of its prosperity in the closing decades of the 13th century and the early 14th century, when the community had reached its peak of 300 individuals. During this prosperous period the second synagogue in the carrer Peixeteries velles was demolished in 1321 and a larger one built to meet the needs of the time. The building survives today and is now a private house known as Can Vicenç Comas.

From the late 15th century onwards, the Jewish community had come under a great deal of pressure. By 1370, most of the Jews were destitute. According to one of the complaints received by the secretaries in the Aljama, the situation had arisen from the excessive amounts the Aljama and private individuals were forced to pay in taxes and pensions. The most difficult period for the Jewish communities came in 1391, when most of the Jewish Quarters on the peninsula suffered a series of attacks. However, the one in Castelló escaped as a result of the intervention of the Counts of Empúries. Many Jews from Girona fled and settled in the Jewish Quarter in Castelló d’Empúries as it was under the protection of the counts’ family and was considered a safer place. We have found records about the first Jews to convert to Christianity dating from the late 14th century. However, mass conversions didn’t take place until the first half of the 15th century. The Jewish population in the Aljama in Castelló d’Empúries had declined to ten families and, on 18th 1417, more than a hundred Jews were forced to be baptised in the twin baptismal font that survives today in the basilica of Santa Maria.

Castelló’s Jewish community had its own cemetery, as well a synagogue, which complied with all the precepts of the Jewish faith. It was situated outside the town walls, on a piece of high ground known as Els Aspres. The cemetery extended from the north-east of the town and was bounded to the east by the irrigation channel used by the mills (Rec del Molí). It was used until the early 14th century and is currently privately owned. The first records of the new cemetery date from 1306. The Jewish community purchased a very large plot of land adjacent to the old burial ground. It was located in the area known as Rotacàs, at the foot of Els Aspres and faced the Rec del Molí in the west. The cemetery was used until 1492 and is currently a private agricultural smallholding.

Some of the most outstanding surviving buildings from Castelló’s Jewish heritage include the Curia-presó (1336) and the Llotja, or Casa del Consell (1393-94), the seat of the local council, to which the Jews made a major contribution as builders. The Curia-presó was built in the civil Gothic style and served a dual purpose as a court of law and prison. The ground floor is currently home to the municipal tourist office, and the Museu d’Història Medieval de la Cúria-Presó occupies the rest of the building. The museum collections focus on local medieval history. One of the highlights is the gallery dedicated to Castelló’s Jewish past, which contains nine Hebrew tombstones from the ancient Jewish cemetery, loaned to the town council by private collectors. The gallery also features a series of mezuzahs, a model of the town as it looked in the 14th century, and an audiovisual exhibit giving an insight into the town’s history.