Call de Girona

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About Call de Girona

Jewish presence in Girona appears in documents from the late 9th century. In the 12th century the community concentrated on the Carrer de la Força and the surrounding alleys, and reached about 800 people. The neighborhood, called the call in Catalan, was home to one of the most important Kabbalistic schools in medieval Europe.

The rabbi Mossé ben Nahman, known as Nahmânides or Bonastruc ça Porta, was born in Girona in 1194 and became the leading rabbi of Catalonia. In 1492 the Catholic Monarchs forced Jews to choose between conversion and exile, and Girona's community came to an end. The neighborhood was closed off and new houses were built over the old ones.

The Museu d'Història dels Jueus occupies the Centre Bonastruc ça Porta, on the site where the synagogue and its dependencies stood in the 15th century. The rooms display documents, archaeological pieces and images that illustrate the life of Jewish communities in medieval Catalonia, using examples taken from Girona's history.

While walking through the quarter, notice the entrances of some buildings, such as on the Carrer de Sant Llorenç: a rectangular cut in the doorframe marks the spot of the old mezuzah. On the same Carrer de la Força is the Museu d'Història de Girona, in a former Capuchin convent.