Toledo, Spain Ancient Jewish Quarter and Synagogue
Jews lived in this quarter throughout the Middle Ages, and its community became the most populous and rich in the Kingdom of Castile in the 12th and 13th centuries. The synagogue still remains in the narrow streets of the Jewish Quarter in a city where Christians, Muslims and Jews peacefully co-existed.
Jewish Toledo
Toledo, Spain has two of the oldest surviving synagogues in Europe, and a museum that highlights the Sephardic culture associated with those synagogues.
Jewish quarter of Toledo Spain (Samuel Halevi Abulafia, Casa del Greco)
Jewish quarter of Toledo Spain (Samuel Halevi Abulafia, Casa del Greco)
Song: Highway [Top Shelf Sounds Release]
Artists: Hevenly
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Jewish quarter in Spain, Sephardi legacy [IGEO.TV]
Centuries of history are presented in Spain which remind Jewish presence, just walking and enjoying across their streets, buildings, arcs, squares, which are the perfect testimony of cohabitation between Jewish, Mudejars and Christians.
The Jewish quarter creation around Spanish cities was been setting along Middle Age. Generally, after new distributions through urban spaces, reconquests and repopulations, downtown spaces were allocated to Christians, setting aside Mudejars (conversed Muslims) to outskirts (named as Moorish quarter), while Jewish kept their social level, and used to cohabite with invaders.
As soon as Christian occupation was definitive, antijewish measures became stronger, which put Jewish into the background, making isolates neighborhoods called Jewish quarters.
Probably, in Spain there were quite important Jewish quarters, at least 300. Recently, Jewish Spanish Association has been created, 26 cities which still conserve their special urban structure.
We´ll visit four of them, selected by chance:
-CÓRDOBA: One of the most visited places in the city, it's a white quarter decorated with flowers.
-TOLEDO: Main sanctuary for people looking for Jewish memories.
-CÁCERES: old Jewish quarter with popular houses, whitewash walls and big bricked chimneys, adapted to the land´s gradient, therefore, quite steep slopes, it is called Quebrada Quarter.
-HERVÁS: a respected urban design, narrow streets extremely tight, balconies with big cantilevers, native materials. Almost award-winning as best place 2013, by Repsol guide.
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Toledo Spain - Sephardic Museum
A short look at the Jewish influence in Toledo.
There was once a thriving Jewish community living in harmony with the Muslims and Christians. Sharing facilities for prayer. The two remaining synagogues have mainly Moorish architecture and Christian embellishments.
Not much remains of the Jewish influence!
The Sephardic museum does have a good collection of Jewish articles.
Music by Spanish group Klesmática.
The Jewish Synagogue in Toledo Spain
The Jewish Synagogue in Toledo Spain
Jewish shop in Toledo,Spain
Jewish shop in Toledo
Jewish shop in Toledo, Spain - owner
Jewish shop in Toledo owner
Jewish Toledo, Spain, September 16, 2017
Two restored synagogues in the old Jewish quarter of Toledo (and a couple of the streets that separate them.) The first one shown, the Synagogue of Santa Maria la Blanca gets that name from when it was converted into a church. (It was returned to the Jewish community in 1992.) The second, the Synagogue of El Transito, is now a museum.
Rosh Hashanah in Toledo, Spain
Hiram Jacob Segarra blowing the Shofar for Rosh Hashanah in the oldest surviving synagogue in Toledo, Spain (from the 10th Century). September 10, 2004.
Jewish Toledo: Thanks to You
Jewish Toledo: Thanks to You
Jewish Segovia: the Rabbi and the Queen
Segovia had an important Jewish community, and Abraham Senneor was an important adviser to Queen Isabella. He confronted Tomas Torquemada, the Chief Inquisitor, who was pushing to expel Jews from Spain.
Toledo Jewish Community Remembers Israel Teens - WTVG TV13
The July 1, 2014 community memorial service for Our Boys was beyond moving. The room was packed, the service was touching and the community outpouring of support was inspiring. Thank you, Jewish Toledo.
Video provided by WTVG 13 and Columbus News Clips.
TOLEDO - SPAIN & Damasquino (Damascene) Art
TOLEDO is a municipality located in central Spain, 70 km south of Madrid. It is the capital of the province of Toledo. It is also the capital of autonomous community of Castile--La Mancha. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986 for its extensive cultural and monumental heritage as one of the former capitals of the Spanish Empire and place of coexistence of Christian, Muslim and Jewish cultures, as well as the place where harsh religious persecutions were held against the Jews by the Visigoths.
Many famous people and artists were born or lived in Toledo, including Al-Zarqali, Garcilaso de la Vega, Eleanor of Toledo, Alfonso X and El Greco. It was also the place of important historic events such as the Visigothic Councils of Toledo.
History
Having been populated since the Bronze Age, Toledo (Toletum in Latin) grew in importance during Roman times, being a main commercial and administrative centre in the Roman province of Tarraconensis. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Toledo served as the capital city of Visigothic Spain, beginning with Liuvigild (Leovigild), and was the capital of Spain until the Moors conquered Iberia in the 8th century.
Under the Caliphate of Cordoba, Toledo was the center of numerous insurrections dating from 761 to 857. The Banu Qasi gained nominal control of the city until 920 and in 932 Abd-ar-Rahman III captured the city following an extensive siege. Toledo experienced a period known as La Convivencia, i.e. the co-existence of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Under Arab rule, Toledo was called Tulaytulah. After the fall of the Caliphate, Toledo was the capital city of one of the richest Taifas of Al-Andalus. Its population was overwhelmingly Muladi, and, because of its central location in the Iberian Peninsula, Toledo took a central position in the struggles between the Muslim and Christian rulers of northern Spain. The conquest of Toledo by Alfonso VI of Castile marked the first time a major city in Al-Andalus had fallen to Christian forces; it served to sharpen the religious aspect of the Christian reconquest.
Source: Wikipedia
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Damascene /Damasquino Art
Damascene Damasquinado de Oro or Damasquino is the art of decorating non-precious metals with gold. It has roots in the Middle Ages and originates from the oriental-style artisan work done in Damascus, Syria. The craft, perfected by the Arabs and brought with them to Spain, has remained virtually unchanged over the centuries.
Damascene items generally reflect two distinct traditional types of patterns; the Arabesque or geometric designs, and the Renaissance motifs, displaying variations of birds and flowers. These patterns are obtained by engraving deep, patterned cuts into steel and then placing a gold foil into the lines of the design. This foil is hammered until the gold (18/greenish and 24/yellow carat) penetrates into the cuts, forming the design. Each piece is treated with a bluing solution to obtain oxidation and a black background is created. The back of all Damascene pieces are finished with gold metal.
Toledo is the world's largest center of production of Damascene. The city of Toledo is one of the richest historically and culturally endowed cities in all of Spain.
Damascening is the art of inlaying different metals into one another—typically, gold or silver into a darkly oxidized steel background—to produce intricate patterns similar to niello. The English term comes from a perceived resemblance to the rich tapestry patterns of damask silk.
The technique has a long history in Japan, where it was used to decorate katana fittings, particularly tsuba. Known as zougan in Japanese, it has developed its own subset of terms to describe the particular patterns, although shippou-zougan is an enamelling technique which most Westerners would consider closer to champlevé.
Damascened-inlay jewelry, especially of Japanese origin, is sometimes referred to as shakudo from the use of that alloy as the dark background.
The technique of niello is also famously attested in prehistoric Greece. The earliest occurrence of damascening in the Aegean, from the Shaft Graves of Mycenae, dates to the latest Middle Bronze Age/Middle Helladic IIIB period (dagger Nu-304). Ultimately of Near Eastern provenance, the technique of inlaying silver/gold was adapted to suit Aegean taste and style.
Cities that are known for a rich history in Damascening where the technique is still practiced are Toledo, Spain, and Kyoto, Japan.
A walk along Barcelona Jewish Quarter
This is a walk along the whole set of streets occupied by the Jews in the Middle Age. A place of small streets or alley. In medieval, Barcelona had two Jewish quarters, and in this video we walk along all the streets of both, explaining the history of this community and his way of life. We visit the synagogue, the public baths, the streets and the main places of the daily life of neighborhood.
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Jewish Quarter, Salamanca, Spain
Salamanca (Spanish pronunciation: [salaˈmaŋka]) is a city in northwestern Spain, the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the community of Castile and León. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. With a metropolitan population of 228,881 in 2012 according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), Salamanca is the second most populated urban area in Castile and León, after Valladolid (414,000), and ahead of Leon (187,000) and Burgos (176,000).
It is one of the most important university cities in Spain and supplies 16% of Spain's market for the teaching of the Spanish language.[1][2] Salamanca attracts thousands of international students,[3] generating a diverse environment.
It is situated approximately 200 kilometres (124 miles) west of the Spanish capital Madrid and 80 km (50 mi) east of the Portuguese border. The University of Salamanca, which was founded in 1134, is the oldest university in Spain and the fourth oldest western university, but the first to be given its status by the Pope Alexander IV who gave universal validity to its degrees. With its 30,000 students, the university is, together with tourism, a primary source of income in Salamanca
Visiting Jewish Córdoba | The Story of The Jews with Simon Schama | PBS
Watch the full series at (US Only)
In this clip from The Story of the Jews, Simon Schama journeys to Córdoba, once the capital of the Islamic Umayyad dynasty, and under their protection, one of the great centers of Sephardic Jewish life in Muslim Spain.
This is place the Arabs called el Andalus, and we now know as Andalusia. The region is located in the deep south of Spain, the country the Jews called Sepharad, and at its heart is the city of Córdoba.
Córdoba was a city of gardens; fountains, canals, and post delivered by carrier pigeon. The Mesquita, the great mosque built by the Umayyads, stands as the architectural consummation of their ambition.
But in the shadow of the mosques were the synagogues, and they too wove worldliness with holiness to create patterns of intoxicating beauty, an impulse that endured for centuries. Inspired by Arabic models, that same note was sounded in the poetry of the Sephardim, a literature that gave the Hebrew language a startling new life outside of the synagogue.
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TOLEDO JEWISH TOUR AND SEGOVIA JEWISH TOUR
Still thinking about visiting Toledo or Segovia with Asher? Enjoy this video!!
See you soon!!!
Spain, Jewish Synagogues and Monuments
Photographer:Samuel Magal
samuel@sites-and-photos.com
Spanish Jews once constituted one of the largest and most prosperous Jewish communities in the world. This period ended definitively with the anti-Jewish riots of 1392 and Alhambra decree of 1492, as a result of which the majority of Jews in Spain (between 200,000 and 250,000) converted to Catholicism and those remaining (between 40,000 and 100,000) were forced into exile.