JEWISH TOUR

TOUR DESCRIPTION

Barcelona, is a city rich is jewish history.

With this private jewish tour you will have the chance to visit the Major Call and the Minor

Call, the Slomó ben Adret Synagogue, the Centre d’Interpretació del Call and some other

meaningful remains of the Jewish heritage in a town.

Although some Jews already settled in the Roman Barcino, at the peak of the Jewish presence

in Barcelona (1348), their community reached about 15% of the city’s population. Most of

them lived in El Call (pronounced “kaail”): the area, covering some 6 acres, had then five active

synagogues and, as opposed to a Ghetto, no closing gates.

Close by stands the Major Royal Palace of the Crown of Aragon: in 1263, the Jewish-Christian

debate known as Disputation of Barcelona took place here between Catalan Rabbi

Nachmanidesand a convert friar from Provence. Sadly, the palace was transformed by the

Catholic kings into the official site of the newly imposed Spanish Inquisition in town, with its

coat of arms still posted on its outer walls.

The adjacent Plaça del Rei (King’s Square) is where most horrible Autos de Fe used to take

place, ruled by the renowned fundamentalist Dominican monks. Closing the square stands he

Lieutenant’s Palace, promoted by Spanish emperor Charles V, partly built with stone materials

taken from the medieval Jewish cemetery on Montjuïc (1) and still showing many visible

inscriptions in Hebrew on its façade.

The Palau de la Generalitat, the Catalan Government’s palace, was started after the two best

Gothic buildings in el Call were “purchased” in 1383 and linked together. Later, some other

renaissance enlargements followed the demolition of adjacent former Jewish dwellings and

the Sinagoga Poca or small synagogue.

Not far, a beautifully restored market hall, Santa Caterina, stands on the remains of the

former homonymous Dominican monastery, pillaged and burnt down by the rioting local folks

a decade and a half after the Spanish Inquisition had been abolished in 1820.

During our tour we will bring back to life the story of the Jews here in Barcelona and show

just how important Jewish people were to the city’s development and history.

You have the possibilitty to make all this tours by bike or segway, changing a little bit the

itinerary and not going in to the emblematic buildings

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Not included : Tickets