La Judería, the Jewish quarter, of Toledo España

I mentioned last week that I just returned from Spain.  It was a packed two week adventure full of art, culture, interesting people and fabulous food.  I’m going to be sharing stories and photos from the trip and I thought I’d start with La Judería in Toledo.  I thought Easter weekend was an appropriate time for this post.

I have been to Toledo many times but for some reason I never delved into its Jewish past.  Not so this trip!  We visited one of the two synagogues in Toledo on our last family trip six years ago.  And that was not planned.  The places we wanted to visit were closed that day so we got out the map of the city and found other things to do to fill the time until our return train to Madrid that afternoon.  One of those was Santa Maria la Blanca which used to be a synagogue that became a church after the diaspora of the Jews.  Built in 1180, it is considered the oldest standing synagogue in Europe.  We enjoyed it so much six years ago that we decided to pay another visit.

In the same neighborhood is the Museo Serfardí in which the second synagogue resides, Sinagoga del Tránsito.  I was so impressed with this synagogue and museum, not only because of the stunning architecture, but also the many Jewish relics on display.  It was a bit overwhelming!  I hope you’ll enjoy some of the photos I took of the two synagogues.  I’ll be back later with more photos of picturesque Toledo so stay tuned for that!

First a small gallery of plaques in the ground, two that mark the beginning of the Jewish quarter.  There are three of these, the third one is in English but I didn’t get a photo of it.  The other two photos are samples of tiles that are found throughout the Jewish quarter.  I need to find out their significance.  For now, here are the photos.  Click on any image in any gallery to see a larger photo and the gallery itself.

Santa Maria la Blanca:

Santa Maria La Blanca, Toledo

Clam shell where the Torah was kept

beautiful ceiling, Santa Maria La Blanca, Toledo, Spain

Painting of the Wall of Jerusalem

Describing the painting, in Spanish

and in English

Museo Sefardí:

Synagogue and museum from the outside

Synagoga

The Torah was kept behind the red velvet cover

intricate ceiling

remnant of an old wall

Shofar and prayer shawl

Torahs

Prayer books in Hebrew

Torah and bible

3D map of Toledo shows the location of the Jewish quarter

To those that are celebrating: Happy Easter!