El Call
Barcelona had one of Spain’s most significant Jewish communities from the 10th century until the pogroms of 1391, when its way of life in the Barri Gòtic was destroyed forever. Six centuries of absence almost erased any trace of the Jewish presence, but in the 1990s a concerted effort by a pair of scholar activists established the boundaries of the old quarter (the name Call comes from the Hebrew kahal, meaning community) and restored the remains of the principal synagogue. It is one of Europe’s oldest, with foundations dating from Roman times—the original street level is some six feet lower than it is today. Nearby, in a former veil weaver’s house (Placeta de Manuel Ribé s/n), a heritage space run by Barcelona’s history museum MUHBA, excavated artifacts and documents detailing the city’s Jewish cultural legacy are displayed.
Barcelona had one of Spain’s most significant Jewish communities from the 10th century until the pogroms of 1391, when its way of life in the Barri Gòtic was destroyed forever. Six centuries of absence almost erased any trace of the Jewish presence, but in the 1990s a concerted effort by a pair of scholar activists established the boundaries of the old quarter (the name Call comes from the Hebrew kahal, meaning community) and restored the remains of the principal synagogue. It is one of Europe’s oldest, with foundations dating from Roman times—the original street level is some six feet lower than it is today. Nearby, in a former veil weaver’s house (Placeta de Manuel Ribé s/n), a heritage space run by Barcelona’s history museum MUHBA, excavated artifacts and documents detailing the city’s Jewish cultural legacy are displayed.
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