The Synagogue of Utrera () is a former Jewish synagogue discovered on Niño Perdido Street in

Utrera Utrera () is a municipality in south-west Spain. It is in the province of Seville, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. As of 2018 it has a population of 52,617. The town is of great historical interest. It was occupied by Muslims in the 8t ...

, Spain built in the

Mudéjar Mudéjar were Muslims who remained in Iberia in the late medieval period following the Christian reconquest. It is also a term for Mudéjar art, which was greatly influenced by Islamic art, but produced typically by Christian craftsmen for C ...

style. It is the only extant synagogue in the

Province of Seville The Province of Seville () is a province of southern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It borders the provinces of Málaga and Cádiz in the south, Huelva in the west, Badajoz in the north and Córdoba in the ...

, and became the second the two known-extant synagogues in

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

, along with the Córdoba Synagogue. On February 7, 2023, its remains were discovered inside of the old hospital of La Misercordia due to maintenance work that had been ordered by the city council in 2021. Part of its restoration process will include its conversion to a museum.

History

The synagogue was constructed in the 14th century and was used as a synagogue until the

expulsion of the Jews from Spain The Expulsion of Jews from Spain was the expulsion of practicing Jews following the Alhambra Decree in 1492, which was enacted to eliminate their influence on Spain's large ''converso'' population and to ensure its members did not revert to Judais ...

in the late 15th century. Following the expulsion of Jews, it was converted into the Hospital of Mercy, which was run by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, and was established to help foundlings. Historian Rodrigo Caro wrote in 1604 that the church had been built on an old synagogue. The Christian community had maintained the original architecture of the building until the 17th century, when the roof was raised and two side

naves The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type b ...

were added into the hall of prayer, and the extant wall paintings are all dated to no earlier than the 18th century. The main alter was established with an image of

Our Lady of Peace Our Lady of Peace, Mother of Peace, Queen of Peace or Our Lady Queen of Peace is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Roman Catholic Church. She is represented in art holding a dove and an olive branch, symbols of peace. Her official memo ...

. After its confiscation, the building continued to be used as a nursery. The State later sold it to Spanish politician , who sold it to the Gutiérrez family. It was later ceded to the city council of Utrera, and was used as a nursery school. In 1969, it was converted into a museum of the

Quintero brothers Serafín Álvarez Quintero (March 26, 1871 – April 12, 1938) and Joaquín Álvarez Quintero (January 20, 1873 – June 14, 1944) were Spanish dramatists. Biography Quintero brothers, photograph by Kaulak Born in Utrera, Seville Province in ...

. In the 1970s and 1980s, it was used as a party venue, and as a restaurant, pub, and disco. In 2018, following a two decades-long abandonment, the city council purchased the building for €460,000

euros The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

. Excavations began on November 18, 2021, and were led by archaeologist Miguel Ángel de Dios Pérez and architect Antonio Jaramillo. On February 7, 2023, it was officially announced that a synagogue had been discovered on the property. The building is one of two surviving ones from Seville, and one of four throughout all of Spain. Its survival is accredited to the fact that despite its abandonment as a synagogue, the building remained in use for the majority of its existence in some capacity.

Description

The known discoveries consist of a prayer hall and the area for the Aron Hakodesh. Searches for the

ritual bath Ritual purification is a ritual prescribed by a religion through which a person is considered to be freed of ''uncleanliness'', especially prior to the worship of a deity, and ritual purity is a state of ritual cleanliness. Ritual purification ...

and women's sections are still underway.

References

{{Authority control, qid=Q116811693 14th-century synagogues in Spain Buildings and structures in Seville Former synagogues in Spain Churches converted from synagogues