Spanish Hotel Built on Ruins of 15th Century Synagogue Opens New Shul
A Spanish hotel built on the remains of a 15th century synagogue opened a new synagogue on its seventh floor.
The opening last week at the Parador de Lorca hotel, a four-star establishment, was the result of negotiations between management and the Sefarad Beitenu Jewish association, which will run the shul, according to a report in the Murcia Economia local newspaper. The president of Sefarad Beitenu, Aharon Franco, signed a cooperation contract with the Paradores hotel network on Dec. 4, the report said.
The synagogue was unearthed during the construction of the new hotel, which was opened last year.
The seventh floor also houses a small Jewish cultural center offering an overview of Jewish history in Spain and a description of the synagogue and other findings recovered in the ruins.
Several heritage preservation groups opposed the hotel’s construction because it would mean the loss of archaeological finds. The management pledged to incorporate the findings, including a 15th-century mikvah, or ritual bath, into the building’s architecture.
Shlomo Amar, a former Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, visited the hotel and the ruins earlier this year and requested that it be made into place of pilgrimage for Jews, according to the Spanish daily La Opinion de Murcia.
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
