Archaeologists in Andalusian town of Utrera rediscover staggeringly rare medieval Spanish synagogue

The find makes the 14th-century 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”.

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.