Perched above the ancient walls of Tarazona, the Hanging Houses appear almost weightless, their wooden balconies suspended in midair as if clinging to the past. These striking dwellings, built over the defensive ramparts, are more than an architectural curiosity. They are a metaphor for a city that once balanced cultures, faiths, and identities in a delicate harmony. Beneath their shadow lies the story of Tarazona’s Jewish quarter, a world of scholarship, commerce, and resilience that shaped the destiny of this Aragonese town.
Tarazona’s location at the meeting point of Aragon, Castile, and Navarre made it a strategic hub in medieval Spain. After Alfonso I reconquered the city in 1119, Jews were invited to settle and contribute to its economic revival. They did so with vigor. By the thirteenth century, Tarazona’s Jewish population represented a significant share of its inhabitants, and their influence extended far beyond the city walls. They were bankers, physicians, artisans, and scholars whose expertise sustained royal finances and enriched local life.
Unlike the enclosed ghettos of later centuries, Tarazona’s Judería was integrated into the urban fabric. Its streets, Rúa Alta, Rúa Baja, Calle Judería, formed a labyrinth of homes, workshops, and communal spaces. Here stood the synagogue, the rabbi’s residence, and ritual baths, all within earshot of the cathedral bells. This coexistence was not without tension, but for generations it produced a cultural symbiosis that left enduring marks on architecture, language, and art.
Among the families that defined Tarazona’s Jewish history, the Portellas stand out. Moshe de Portella and his descendants rose to prominence as financiers and advisors to the Crown of Aragon. Their wealth and influence were such that they paid a fifth of the aljama’s taxes and held offices that bridged the worlds of Jewish law and royal administration. Yet their story also reflects the fragility of medieval Jewish life: indispensable to power, yet perpetually exposed to suspicion and violence. The Portellas’ legacy survives in archival documents and in the name of the Centro de Interpretación de la Judería “Moshe de Portella”, where visitors can explore manuscripts, models, and reconstructions of daily life.
The Hanging Houses are the most visible emblem of Tarazona’s layered history. Built over the old city walls, they symbolize a community that lived on the margins yet shaped the city’s soul. Their precarious beauty invites reflection: what does it mean to inhabit a space suspended between security and vulnerability? For the Jews of Tarazona, this was not merely a metaphor, but a lived reality. The Judería’s gates, Porticiella and Santa Ana, once marked thresholds between worlds, controlling access and signaling difference. Today, they frame a route that leads travelers through centuries of memory.
Walking the Judería
Exploring Tarazona’s Jewish quarter is an experience of textures and silences. The Ruta de la Judería, carefully signposted, guides visitors through narrow alleys where sunlight filters like a secret. The itinerary includes the site of the synagogue, the rabbi’s house, and vestiges of the defensive wall. Along the way, plaques and interpretive panels evoke the rhythms of medieval life: the hum of markets, the cadence of Hebrew prayers, the murmur of scholarly debate. For those seeking deeper insight, the Interpretation Center offers immersive exhibits that reconstruct the Judería’s urban layout and illuminate its role in the city’s prosperity.
Tarazona’s Jewish memory extends beyond the Judería. Inside the Cathedral of Santa María de la Huerta, a luminous altarpiece by Juan de Leví, a Jewish convert, testifies to the complexities of identity and faith. His work, intricate and radiant, bridges two worlds in a single masterpiece. Nearby, municipal archives preserve contracts, responsa, and tax records that speak of a community both integrated and distinct—a paradox that defined Jewish existence in medieval Spain.
From Silence to Celebration
The expulsion of 1492 silenced Tarazona’s Judería, scattering its inhabitants and erasing its institutions. Yet traces endure in street names, architectural fragments, and the collective memory of a city that now seeks to honor its plural past. Today, Tarazona participates in the Jewish Heritage Network – Caminos de Sefarad, offering cultural programs that reconnect history with contemporary life. The European Day of Jewish Culture brings concerts, lectures, and guided tours, transforming remembrance into dialogue. Beyond commemoration, Tarazona invites travelers to experience a living heritage: a city where history and landscape converge under the watchful presence of Moncayo, the mountain that crowns its horizon.
