The Rough Guide to Barcelona 8 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

word for a narrow passage), most notably the site of the main synagogue, the

Antiga Sinagoga

(Mon–Fri 11am–6pm, Sat & Sun 11am–3pm, sometimes

closed Sat for ceremonies; €2;

933 170 790,

www.calldebarcelona.org

) –

it’s at c/Marlet 5, on the corner with c/Sant Domènec del Call. A small

synagogue existed here, on the edge of the Roman forum, from the third

century AD until the pogrom of 1391, but even after that date the building

survived in various guises – the sunken dye vats from a family business of

fifteenth-century New Christian (forcibly converted Jews) dyers are still

visible, alongside some original Roman walling. Not many people stop by

the synagogue – if you do, you’ll get a personalized tour of the small room

by a member of the local Jewish community.

Most other local Jewish buildings were destroyed, though a plaque further

down c/Marlet (junction with c/Arc Sant Ramon del Call) marks the site of

the former rabbi’s house, while up in Plaçeta Manuel Ribé another house origi-

nally belonging to a veil-maker now serves as a small museum, the

Centre

d’Interpretació del Call

(Wed–Fri 10am–2pm, Sat 11am–6pm, Sun &

holidays 11am–3pm; free;

932 562 122,

www.museuhistoria.bcn.cat).You

can ask here about guided tours, open days and activities that aim to shed more

light on Barcelona’s Jewish heritage.

Plaça de Sant Jaume

marks the very centre of the Barri Gòtic. A spacious

square at the end of c/de Ferran, which runs east from the Ramblas, this was

once the site of Barcelona’s Roman forum and marketplace; now it’s at the

heart of city and regional government business, containing two of the city’s

most significant buildings. Whistle-happy local police try to keep things

moving in the

plaça

, while taxis and bike-tour groups weave between the

pedestrians.The square is also the traditional site of demonstrations, gatherings

and local festivals.

Jewish Barcelona

There were Jews living in Barcelona as early as the ninth century, and a Jewish

district was documented in the city by the eleventh. Later, as elsewhere in Spain,

Barcelona’s

medieval Jewish quarter

lay nestled in the shadow of the cathedral

– under the Church’s careful scrutiny. In the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries

some of the realm’s greatest and most powerful administrators, tax collectors and

ambassadors hailed from here, but reactionary trends sparked persecution and led

to the closing off of the community in these narrow, dark alleys. Nevertheless a

prosperous settlement persisted until the pogrom and forced conversion of 1391 and

exile of 1492. Today little, except the street name and the rediscovered synagogue

survives as a reminder of the Jewish presence – after their expulsion, most of the

buildings used by the Jews were torn down and used for construction elsewhere

in the city. With the demise of the Franco regime, a small community was again

established in Barcelona, and in recent years there has been a revival in interest in

Barcelona’s Jewish heritage. As well as the synagogue, the sites of the butchers’,

bakers’, fishmongers’ and Jewish baths have all been identified, while over on the

eastern side of Montjuïc (Jewish Mountain) was the Jewish cemetery – the castle at

Montjuïc displays around thirty tombstones recovered from the cemetery in the early

twentieth century.

BARRI GÒTIC

Plaça de Sant Jaume