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Friday, January 19, 2018

The mikveh of Girona’s last medieval synagogue in 1415. By Sílvia Planas, Joel Colomer, Jordi Sagrera, Jordi Vivó

Article published at TAMID magazine, vol. 12 (2016-2017)

Girona’s Jewish community was confined to an enclosure physically separated from the rest of the city by a wall. It was in that scaled-down Jewish quarter that the aljama (a Spanish term of Arabic origin used in old official documents to designate self-governing communities of Moors and Jews living under Spanish rule) established Girona’s third and last synagogue. Archive documents show that it stood on part of what is now the site of the Bonastruc ça Porta Centre. In the interests of having a more comprehensive and accurate record of the Jewish community’s physical spaces and heritage, Girona City Council has organised various archaeological excavations at the spot in question. The most recent digs, which took place in 2014 and 2015, unearthed several structures associated with a mikveh (ritual bath). Drawing on all the surviving documentary evidence, we describe how those structures must have been and trace their history over the 15th century.

Article en catalan

Photo: Jordi Puig