Barcelona Jewish heritage tour
(Refs 1A and 1B)
Past and present of the Jewish people in Barcelona
Did you know that Barcelonians (and so Catalan Jews) were not Sephardic Jews?
Did you know that Jewish life finished in Barcelona on 1391, 101 years before the famous expulsion of Jews by the Catholic Kings?
When did Jews returned to Spain? What about Barcelonian Jews Today?
Basic version of this tour (1A)
Duration: 2h30min approx
At the heart of the ancien Barcelona, founded by the romans more than 2000 years ago, we find the Jewish District, or 'Call', name given to all Jewries in the territory of Catalonia when it was part of the famous Kingdom of Aragon, back to the Middle Ages.
Leaving from the Cathedral's Square, our visit will take us to the past of this important Jewish Community that probably was already present in this area since the Roman's arrival, even though we know about it since 1060. Narrow streets where we will discover the traces of a very flourishing comunity that had up to 4500 members in its best times. We will talk about some of its most outstanding members, such Salomó Ben Adret (RASHBA), Rabbi of Barcelona, who became very famous all over Europe during the 14th century thanks to his Taqanot (decisions) and written comments to the Talmud; Samuel Ha Sarda and Moshe Ben Nachman-RAMBAN, who did not live in Barcelona but in Girona, but was in constant contact with the Jewish barcelonians and held the famous Dispute in this city on 1263, fact that took him to exile later on.
During our visit we will point on the locations of its 5 sinagogues, the bakery, the grocery, the fountain and we will see the traces of the King's doctor house, Bonjuha Cabrit. We will visit also some other locations that were related to the Jewish history in the city such
Saint James Square where
La Generalitat (Goverment Palace of Catalonia) and the
City Hall are located still today ; The
Plaça del Rei (King's square) and the
King's Palace, location of the famous Dispute held by RAMBAN and Pau Cristiani on 1263 ;
Placeta de Sant Iu, where we will admire the courtyard of the
Inquisition Main Quarters in Barcelona, where we can still see the Coat of Arms of this famous institution, active till 1812 officially. We will also touch some gravestones taken from the Jewish cemetery of Montjuich that were used to built important buildings such the
Palau del Lloctinent, nowadays hosting the
Archiu de la Corona d'Aragó. We will see the Main quarters of the Spanish Inquisition in Barcelona and its Coat of Arms..
The past of a very important comunity, that arrived to and end on the 5th of August of 1391, 101 years before the official expulsion of Jews from the Catholic Kingdoms, without forgetting the
return of Jews to Spain and Barcelona, already on the 20th Century, and Jewish life in Barcelona Today.
A complete trip through the
past and the
present of Barcelonian Jews.
Extended version of this tour (1B)
Duration: 4 hrs approx
The extended version includes the content of the
basic version of Barcelona Jewish Heritage tour plus the visit of :
- Museum of History of Barcelona (MUHBA) : Interior of the King's Palace and the Royal Chapel of Saint Agatha, that displays the remains of the Roman city and offers an interesting prespective of Barcelona in the Middle Ages (Entrance fee)
- Gothic Cathedral of Saint Eulalia (entrance fee), consacrated on 1298.
