Sinagoga Maj14

When an Argentine investor bought a run-down electrician’s store with an eye to converting it into central Barcelona’s umpteenth bar, he could hardly have known he had stumbled onto the remains of what could be the city’s main medieval synagogue (some historians cast doubt on the claim). Remnants of medieval and Roman-era walls remain in the small vaulted space that you enter from the street. Also remaining are tanners’ wells installed in the 15th century. The second chamber has been spruced up for use as a synagogue. A remnant of late-Roman-era wall here, given its orientation facing Jerusalem, has led some to speculate that there was a synagogue here even in Roman times. There were four synagogues in the medieval city, but after the pogroms of 1391, this one (assuming it was the Sinagoga Major) was Christianised by the placing of an effigy of St Dominic on the building. A guide will explain what is thought to be the significance of the site in various languages.