GENERAL
AEPJ Jewish Heritage Route – Spain
Using Google technology and an interactive map to provide historical, heritage, and touristic information for two dozen locations all over Spain. (It is an expanded version of the Routes of Sefarad, described below.) Very rich resource including heritage sites, institutions, etc.
Red de Juderias (Network of Spanish Jewish Quarters)
A non profit public association with the goal of protect urbanistic, architectonical, historical, artistic and cultural Sephardic Heritage in Spain. Network of Jewish quarters and heritage sites in 19 towns and cities around the country. (It used to be 24 locations, but five locations in Catalonia exited.)
In December 2012, Google, in partnership with Red de Juderías de España launched an exhaustive new web site — Routes of Sefarad — that provides an interactive exploration of Jewish heritage throughout Spain. It involves 19 cities, 523 places, 910 chronological registers, 1.674 images, 67 supplementary texts, and 138 commented voices. There are interactive maps, timelines, clickable links, photographs, and detailed site information. (A slightly reduced version of the AEPJ Route, mentioned above.)
INDIVIDUAL INSTITUTIONS
BARCELONA
MUHBA (Museum of History of Barcelona) — El Call (Jewish) branch
Placeta de Manuel Ribé
08002 Barcelona
see map
Tel: +34 93 256 21 22
Fax: +34 93 268 04 54
e-mail: [email protected]
Marlet, 5
08002 Barcelona
Tel: +34 93 317 07 90
Email: [email protected]
Organization dedicated to preserving the medieval Jewish quarter, that oversaw the excavation and restoration of what is believed to be the ancient synagogue.
Jewish Barcelona – Urban Cultours
Email: [email protected]
Information, education, and guided tours of historic Jewish sites in Barcelona as well as contemporary Jewish life.
BÉJAR
Los Curas St
Béjar (Salamanca)
Tel: +34 923 41 05 39
Email: [email protected]
GIRONA
Bonastruc ça Porta Centre
c/ Força, 8
E-17004 Girona
Tel: +34 (0) 972 216761
Fax: +34 (0) 972 214618
Email: [email protected]
PDF Brochure on the Jewish Quarter and institutions
Rediscovering Sephardic Catalonia: Heritage and the Museum of Jewish History in Girona
Lengthy description and analysis by James Nadel, in University of Michigan, Working Papers in Museum Studies: Future Leaders. No. 2, 2016
GRANADA
Palacio de los Olvidado (Palace of the Forgotten)
Cuesta de Sta. Inés, 6
18010 Granada
Tel: +34 958 10 08 40
Facebook Page
A private museum on Sefardic history and culture in Andalusia — and on the Inquisition (and its torture instruments) — that opened January 2, 2014.
Museo Sefardi de Granada
Placeta Berrocal 5
Tel: +34 (0) 95 822 0578
A small privately run “house museum” created by Gabriel Perez and Beatriz Cavalier that formally opened in April 2013.
Granada city tourism page on the museum
Department of Semitic Studies, University of Granada
Facultad de Filosofía y Letras.
Campus Universitario de Cartuja.
Universidad de Granada.
18071 Granada (España)
Tel: +34 (9)58 243572
Email: [email protected]
TOLEDO
Sefardi Museum, Toledo (and El Transito Synagogue)
Calle Samuel Leví s/n
45002 Toledo
Tel: +34 (0) 925 22 36 65
Fax: +34 (0) 925 21 58 31
The 14th century El Transito Synagogue became a church after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. It was built between 1336 and 1357 by Samuel ha-Levi, who held several important posts, including that of the Royal Treasurer, at the court of King Pedro I of Castille. With its polychrome stucco-work, multiple arches and panelled ceiling, the building bears many characteristics of Iberian architectural and decorative style of that period. The restoration began in 1877, when it was declared a National Monument. The museum opened in 1971 and is one of the most-visited state-run museums in Spain.
The museum collection includes a wide range of material culture from the early Roman period onwards, with an emphasis on the medieval period, the Golden Age of Jewish culture in Spain. Much of the collection has been digitized and placed online.
Downloadable PDF multilingual brochures of museum
Article on Bet Hatfutsot web site about the Transito synagogue
Santa Maria la Blanca Synagogue
Reyes Católicos, 4. Toledo
Tel: (+34) 925 227 257
Email: [email protected]
Built in the late 12 or early 13th century, it is one of the oldest standing synagogue buildings in Europe. It was also believed to be the largest of the nine or ten synagogues that existed in the medieval city. It became a church (Santa Maria la Blanca) in the early 15th century, decades before the expulsion of Jews from Spain, after a bloody attack on it led by a virulently anti-Jewish Catholic preacher. It served as a church or convent until the 1790s, when it was taken over as a military barracks and used as a storehouse for the Royal Treasury.
The Provincial Commission of Historical Monuments took it over in the 19th century; according to the Episcopate it was returned to the Episcopate in 1929. It was declared a national monument in 1930. The museum there today showcases the stunning Moorish-style architecture.
Synagogue of Santa Maria la Blanca web site
Toledo Travel Guide web site, historical & architectural details, with an extensive photo gallery