THE JEWISH GHETTO GIRONA

For six centuries until their expulsion in 1492, Girona was home to one of the largest Jewish communities in Spain. At one time up to 1,000 Jews lived in the area  where there were three synagogues, a Jewish school, a ritual bath and a Jewish butcher.

At the centre of the ghetto is the Centre Bonastruc Ca Porta. This Jewish museum and cultural centre is named after the founder of the Cabbalist school of Judaism, also known as Rabbi Nahmanides, who was born in Girona in 1194. Cabbalism is a secret system of mysticism, metaphysics and mathematics which claims to read hidden messages into the scriptures. The museum tells the tragic story of Catalonia's Jews, persecuted for 300 years before being finally driven out. Centuries later, this small centre in Girona is providing a focus for the renaissance of Jewish Spain.