Girona, Spain
Girona is Northern Catalonia’s biggest city, an hour and a half’s drive from Barcelona. A compact medieval fortress city with the best-preserved Jewish quarter in Europe, Girona offers a medley of galleries, churches, restaurants, museums and medieval architecture to explore.
The History of Girona
The city of Girona has long been inhabited. Girona was the ancient city of Gerunda, inhabited by people of the Iberian peninsula prior to Roman settlement. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Visigoths ruled in Girona until it was conquered by the Moors in 715. In 785, Charlemagne reconquered the region and made Girona one of the fourteen original counties of Catalonia. However, after this Girona’s chequered history is one full of invasions and conquerings. It was repeatedly sacked by the Moors throughout the 9th and 10th centuries. In the 11th century, after decades of chaos, Afonso I of Aragon proclaimed Girona a city.
In the 12th century, the Jewish community of Girona was flourishing and the city was home to one of the most important Kabbalistic schools in the country. The Rabbi of Girona at the time was appointed Great Rabbi of Catalunya. However, in 1492 Queen Isabelle and King Ferdinand, often referred to as the Catholic Monarchs, outlawed Judaism and Jews were told they could convert to Catholicism or be exiled. Many were persecuted and it is thought that somewhere between 50,000 and 80,000 Jews were expelled from Spanish territory.
Girona faced more turbulence in later centuries, undergoing twenty-five sieges and being captured seven times. During the 17th-18th century wars between Spain and France, Girona was besieged by French forces several times. Today, the city is industrially important, known for milk pasteurization as well as its flour mills, paper mills, distilleries, soapworks, chemical factories and biscuit and confectionery factories.