The old main synagogue ( es, antigua sinagoga mayor) is a religious edifice in

Segovia Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is in the Inner Plateau ('' Meseta central''), near the northern slopes of t ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. Dating to the 14th century, it was converted into a convent of the nuns of

Order of Saint Clare The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare ( la, Ordo sanctae Clarae) – originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and later the Clarisses, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Order, and the Second Order of Saint Francis ...

. The building was almost completely destroyed in a fire in 1899 and has been reconstructed since.

History

The construction of the old main synagogue took place around mid-14th century. Beginning in the 15th century, it was confiscated by the authorities and converted into a church in 1419, dedicated to Corpus Christi. In 1421, the bishop of Segovia handed the building and premises over to the Monastery of Santa María de Párraces. The monastery in turn sold it to two brothers, Manuel and Antonio del Sello, who transformed it into a convent for the Sisters of Penitence. The former synagogue still forms part of that convent.

Architecture

The entrance to the synagogue is not directly from the street, but through a courtyard. The shape of the synagogue was rectangular, divided into three naves by two large arcades in the Moorish style. The pillars supporting these arches are octagonal in shape and have large capitals featuring vegetal decoration. Above each of the two arcades ran a smaller arcade connecting the two big arches from the ground with the top of the central nave. In 1899 a fire completely destroyed the building. Its present appearance is a result of restoration work that took place starting in 1902 and the last one in 2004, when the original plasterwork of the capitals was restored. The reconstruction was possible since small fragments of the original capitals were discovered, which made the reproduction possible. Opposite the entrance hangs a painting by

Vicente Cutanda Vicente Cutanda y Toraya (1850, Cella, Aragon, Cella or Madrid - 1925, Toledo, Spain, Toledo) was a Spanish painter and watercolorist. He is best known for historical scenes and Social realism, social realist depictions of the lives of working peo ...

called ''Miracle in the synagogue'' (''Milagro en la sinagoga''), painted in 1902.

Sources

* Bonifacio Bartolomé Herrero. ''Jewry guide of Segovia''. Caja Segovia. * Felipe Torroba, Bernaldo de Quirós. ''The Spanish Jews''. Libros Certeza. Zaragoza.

External links

Jewish Encyclopedia , Synagogue Converted into a Church
{{Coord, 40.9494, -4.1237, display=title Buildings and structures in Segovia Buildings converted to Catholic church buildings 14th-century synagogues Synagogues in Spain Conversion of non-Christian religious buildings and structures into churches Sephardi synagogues