Upon the expulsion of Spanish Jewry in 1492, many magnificent houses of worship were abandoned, ultimately to be repurposed or built over. In recent years, Orge Castellano explains, local governments and nonprofits across Europe have successfully uncovered a number of these long-forgotten synagogues, along with thousands of ritual objects, and are intent on finding many more:
“In terms of cultural heritage, Spain has undergone an enormous transformation since the end of the 1980s, with an upsurge in archaeological interventions associated with the booming construction industry,” said Jorge A. Eiroa, professor of medieval history at the University of Murcia. He explained that synagogues often appear when grounds are excavated during construction.
Over several centuries, Jewish communities in Spain left a striking medieval architectural legacy. Their former synagogues are jewels of artistic and cultural heritage that illustrate the splendor and prosperity of Spain’s medieval Jewish communities. . . . Some of the few prominent ones left intact today were repurposed into Roman Catholic churches, such as El Tránsito and Santa Maria la Blanca in Toledo [and] the Córdoba synagogue and Corpus Christi in Segovia. Many Jewish sites of worship scattered throughout the Spanish peninsula, however, are hidden underground with no documented evidence of their existence.
In the ancient city of Úbeda stands a formerly unknown synagogue with a medieval mikveh, or ritual bath, which gives it a nickname: the Synagogue of Water. Buried under the bedrock of the city’s surrounding houses, the synagogue lay undisturbed until it was accidentally unearthed in 2007. Its discovery astonished the property’s owners, who were developing apartments for tourists and a parking lot.
Read more on Jerusalem Post: https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/article-694708