Rare discovery

ARCHAEOLOGISTS in the

Andalucian town of Utrera have rediscovered a staggeringly rare medieval Spanish synagogue, later used for seven centuries as everything from a hospital and home for abandoned children to a restaurant and nightclub.

The find makes the 14thcentury building one of the few valuable medieval synagogues that survived the aftermath of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492.

References to the lost temple go back more than 400 years. In his 1604 Historia de Utrera, Rodrigo Caro, a local priest, historian, and poet, described an area of the city centre as it had been in previous centuries, writing: “In that place, there were only foreign and Jewish people who had a synagogue where the Hospital de la Misericordia is now located.” his aid and ripped his burning clothes off in an effort to save him. Another person grabbed a fire extinguisher and aimed it at the man, eventually extinguishing the flames.

Caro’s claim was verified late last year when a team led by archaeologist Miguel Angel de Dios discovered the area of the Torah ark and prayer hall. “It was like deciphering hieroglyphs. Once we had that key, it all came together,” he confirmed.

Utrera mayor Jose Maria confirmed the significance of the “extraordinary” find was hard to overstate.

The unidentified male was