How much do we actually know about one of Mallorca’s most ancient cultures?
If you are either a Jewish visitor to Mallorca or your ancestors belonged to that millenary culture, a visit to the city of Palma is something you cannot miss.
The Jews stablished in the Balearic Islands for the first time in the 5th century A. D. and we are still being home for the descendants of what has become one of the most ancient ethnic groups in our history. However, most people do not know so much about them as one could think.
Join me on this tour and I will unveil, one by one, all the fascinating mysteries about a culture without the presence of which we could not understand Palma’s history.
Do we know exactly where they lived? Do we know how many of them there were? Where did they come from? Do we actually know which their main jobs were? What relation did they have with the Kings of Mallorca? And with the Kings of Aragon? When did exactly all the persecutions begin? Why was the Jewish Quarter created? And, who created it?
We will find out together the answers to all of these questions and even more!
I will take you to the, once, three Jewish neighborhoods that existed in the City of Mallorca during the Late Middle Ages. We will explore its narrow streets looking for clues that let us visualize the evolution of this urban space in the 14th century’s Palma. As we stroll this quiet maze of alleys, I will give you accurate information about all of the economic, social and political problems the Jewish community of this city faced for 200 years as well as its relation with the island’s institutions, specially the Crown of Mallorca.
