The rare surviving synagogue

Back in the day there used to be a fairly big Jewish population in Spain. But during the Spanish inquisition all the Jews were forced to either convert to Catholicism, leave the country or get killed. This naturally meant the Jewish community became virtually none existent and there was no long a need for synagogues around the country. That’s why you will hardly find a synagogue in Spain. There are actually only three old medieval synagogues left in the country.

Two of the remaining synagogues are found in Toledo one of which has been transformed into the Museo Sefardi. The last old synagogue is found in the former Jewish quarter of Cordoba. The synagogue is in a small street close to the city wall and if you are not looking for it you might just walk right pass it. If you do look for it you got the option to look inside – the entrance is free for EU citizens and for non-EU citizen the fee is modest I think it was something like 30 cents.

The building is pretty small only a big room – but the room got some elaborate decorations and some text on the walls from the religious scripters. You can go up to the second level as well which used to be the woman section of the synagogue.

The building is small so the visit doesn’t take long – but considering it is free to have a look around it is a nice little place to go and visit if you are wondering the streets of Cordoba for a day or two.

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