Segovia's Vanished Judería and the Corpus Christi Church

The Iglesia del Corpus Cristi, near the cathedral, occupies the former main synagogue of Segovia, converted after an anti-Jewish riot in 1410 and later damaged by fire, though its interior retains traces of the original structure. The old Jewish cemetery, on the slope facing the alcázar across the Eresma valley, has been partly excavated and is marked with interpretive panels. Street names and a small interpretation centre in the former judería recall the quarter's medieval boundaries.

Segovia's Jewish community was well established by the thirteenth century and grew prosperous under royal protection, though it suffered repeated episodes of violence, most severely in 1410 when accusations linked to an alleged host desecration led to the seizure and conversion of the main synagogue. The community persisted in reduced form until the general expulsion of 1492, after which its remaining institutions passed entirely into ecclesiastical use.

The view from the alcázar across the Eresma valley to the hillside once occupied by Segovia's Jewish cemetery is one of the more striking vantage points in Castilian Sephardic history, placing the fortress of Isabella I directly opposite the burial ground of a community expelled under her decree. It is a juxtaposition we point out deliberately rather than leave to chance.

Segovia is typically combined with Ávila as a day from Madrid, walked with a private guide through the former judería and up to the alcázar overlook, with lunch reserved in the old town.