Palma's Jewish quarter: 10 hidden corners and curiosities
In August 1391, Palma's Call, its Jewish quarter, was attacked. In 1435 the last Jews of Mallorca were forced to convert, and Judaism officially vanished from the island. And yet the quarter is still there: in a plaque set into the pavement, in the name of an alley, in an arch few people notice. The Call Major reached as far as La Calatrava, right on the doorstep of Es Princep, so reading it only takes a short walk.
1. A Hebrew word on the street map
The first curiosity lies in the name itself. Call comes from the Hebrew qahal, meaning "community". Every time a local says "the Call", they are unknowingly using a word once spoken in the city's synagogues more than six hundred years ago.
2. The gate that is now in the pavement
At the start of Carrer del Sol, a plaque set into the ground marks where the main entrance to the walled Call Major once stood. The street leading to it is called, fittingly, Carrer del Call. Plenty of people walk across it every day without realising they are crossing a medieval border.
3. An arch that gives away two main streets
At the junction of Can Dusai and Montesión stands a grand arch. It is not merely decorative: according to Visit Palma's official route, it suggests that both were main streets of the Jewish quarter. Much of their layout remains original.
4. An alley that was once a school
Carrer de les Escoles, also known as Carreró del Call, takes its name from the quarter's Hebrew schools. It is one of those place names that survive centuries after the thing they named has gone.
5. Montesión and the wall on Carrer del Vent
The church of Montesión stands on the site of the former main synagogue. Fewer people know where to look for what remains of it: some historians point to structures embedded in the side wall facing Carrer del Vent. It is worth walking round the church before stepping inside.
6. The mapmakers' square
Tradition places the home of the Cresques, father and son, in Plaça de Sant Jeroni. They were the authors of the Catalan Atlas of 1375, one of the most celebrated maps of the Middle Ages, and we have mentioned them in the history of the bay and the old city. Today it is a quiet square; back then it was home to one of Europe's finest map workshops.
7. "Those of the street"
After the conversions, the descendants of Palma's Jews settled around Carrer del Segell, Sant Bartomeu and Argenteria, where they lived until practically the twentieth century. They were the Xuetes, and because the word was used as an insult, they preferred to call themselves "those of the street". The name Argenteria has its reason too: for centuries they were the city's silversmiths and jewellers.
8. A square built on the Inquisition
Plaça Major, today lined with café terraces, occupies the site of the Casa Negra, the Inquisition's headquarters, demolished in 1823. Only one trace survives on the street map, Carrer de la Inquisició. And there is a more hidden detail: on today's Costa del Teatre, a plaque still bears its old name, Costa de la Inquisició.
9. The plaque in Plaça Gomila
In 1691, four autos-da-fé sentenced thirty-seven Xuetes to death, and three of them were burned alive. A plaque in Plaça Gomila now honours the victims, and a nearby street bears the name of one of them, Caterina Tarongí. It is the most sombre corner on this list, and also the most necessary.
10. A centre to start (or finish)
To pull it all together, the Centre Maimó Ben Faraig on Carrer de l'Almudaina is the city's interpretation centre for Jewish culture. It displays sections of Roman wall, maps and photographs of the old quarter. For a route linking these streets, see our walk through Palma's old Jewish quarter.
The Call is not visited like a monument: it is discovered by looking down, into corners and up at street signs. Few cities hide so much history in so few metres.
