Barcelona - Jewish Quarter - History Class

          For my History of Barcelona class we had a field trip to the Jewish Quarter, which made me feel right at home. It looks amazingly like Fair Lawn. All kidding aside, El Call, which is what the Quarter is called is actually a beautiful area of Barcelona with narrow maze streets. 

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            The Jewish Quarter dates back to the 9^th Century when, before the Jews were expelled and killed, they were important members of society. The Jewish people during this time were very important in the trading community and were the only people allowed to trade with Africans.

           Above is a picture of the oldest Synagogue in Europe, apparently it has only been up and running for a few years now, after being used over the centuries for other things. It is pretty interesting because you could see all the old stone walls and artifacts. The whole Jewish Quarter, along with the rest of the Gothic Quarter is just an interesting area because of all the history associated with it. As we were walking we would randomly see parts of the old Roman walls, which can be seen below. 

         The picture below is of Plaça Sant Felip Neri, which may just look like a door and an old crumbling wall, but in reality those holes in the walls are remnants of a bomb. During the Spanish Civil War a Fascist Bomb killed many people including 20 children that were seeking shelter in the church in this square. The strangest part about this story is that nowadays there is a school in this square.  

             This last picture below is of the City Hall of Barcelona, which is directly next to the Jewish Quarter. Since the Jewish People in the 9th Century were the bank rollers and in charge of trade, they needed to be by the King and rich in the community. Something else that is really interesting about the building is that the three flags on top are the Catalanian flag, Spanish Flag, and then another type of Catalan flag, showing how independent Catalan actually is.