Sephardic Granada Tour

Duration:2 hours 30 minutes

Groups of up to 30 people.

Languages:ES

Before it was settled by Muslims in the 8th century, Granada was Jewish and Christian: Garnata al-Yahud. Few archaeological remains are left of that Iberian-Roman and Visigothic city, where Judeo-Christianity was the hallmark of the early church in Granada, at a time when the city was known as Iliberia.

During the Hispano-Muslim period, Granada’s Jewish quarter became a prosperous neighborhood, and both cultures coexisted for centuries as one: the culture of Al-Andalus. In 1492, the year of the Conquest of Granada, the Catholic Monarchs signed the “Edict of Granada,” which required Jews to choose between baptism and exile. This edict is known as the one ordering the expulsion of the Jews from the kingdoms of Spain. One of the consequences of this edict was the complete destruction of Granada’s Jewish quarter.

Following an order from the Catholic Monarchs, the Jewish quarter was razed to the ground. Nothing remains standing—no monumental evidence—but we can still recall and visualize what it might have been like, drawing on information from chronicles and historical writings.

The Council of Elvira was the first Christian council held in Baetica, when Granada was a municipality of the Roman Empire: Municipium Florentinum Iliberritanum. Nineteen bishops and 26 presbyters gathered in the first third of the 1st century, and the council’s minutes have become one of the most valuable written sources in terms of the information they provide about the Jewish community in Granada.

We will take a historical, poetic, and cultural journey through the most important elements of the Sephardic Jewish tradition, rediscovering the essence of one of the three cultures that shaped Granada’s society throughout its history, beginning in the 1st century.

While our tour “El Realejo: Territory and Multicultural Identity” offers an in-depth exploration of this authentic Granada neighborhood; “Sephardic Granada” allows us to pause and revisit the spaces of the old Jewish quarter, identifying its nerve center and rekindling the essence of its language and the rich contributions of its unique character.

By restoring the prominent role that the Jewish community played in the history of Granada for more than 1,500 years, we shed light on a Granada that was undoubtedly more than just Muslim.

Available language for the tour: Spanish.