Synagogue of El Tránsito: Difference between revisions

Synagogue of El Tránsito

The Synagogue of El Tránsito, or the synagogue of Samuel ha-Levi, located in the city of Toledo, is a building of the 14th century erected under the patronage of Samuel ha-Levi in ​​the time of King Peter I of Castile. It is a synagogue built in Mudéjar style in which there is an armor of pair and knuckle, the Great Hall of prayer ornamented with arches that allow the entrance of external light and polychrome friezes in plaster decorated with vegetal motifs , geometric and epigraphic, as well as heraldic motifs of the Crown of Castile

Historical Analysis

Historical Context

Torah ark of the Synagogue of El Tránsito.

The synagogue was built between the years 1357 and 1363, according to the inscriptions that appear in the building self. It was carried out by order of Samuel ha-Levi, a member of the Jewish community who, among other positions, was a councilor and almojarife of the Kingdom of Castile during the reign of Peter of Castile. The construction took place despite the existence of a ban on the erection of synagogues, a fact that figured in the Alfonso X's Siete Partidas, but a provision was included that allows the Crown to make exceptions To this standard. This was the case of the Synagogue of El Tránsito, whose construction was allowed by Peter I as grateful for the support and fidelity of the Jews of the city of Toledo to the monarch in their fight for the recovery of the city after having come under control Of Henry of Trastámara.

At this time the the Aljama of Toledo became the richest and most influential of Castile and some Jews, in the same way as in the Arab era, held important positions within the Court. Castile, and as the greatest exponent within it the city of Toledo, presented a dominant religion and two accepted minorities (Mudéjar and Jewish) provided they did not interfere with Christianity. In addition, it facilitated the conversion of minority religions to Christianity, while the opposite case was punished. The Jewish community was present in Toledo from Roman and Visigothic times. In Arab times it was located in the Madinat al Yahud, in the southwestern part of the city, and had a semi-independent character within the city itself. The aljama of the city of Toledo counted on its own organization and three fundamental areas: fiscal, jurisdictional and religious. Although they were servants of the king, they had privileges, having the rabbis an ample authority in aspects of private law and ritual.

The synagogue was the fundamental Jewish institution in the main urban centers of Castile, after its conquest to the Muslims. In the municipal fueros were understood as the "place where the Jews could meet to make their oaths", besides to settle litigations and lawsuits. This interpretation referred to the presence of a community synagogue, but this did not prevent the existence of other smaller prayer houses for private use, often established by wealthier families.

Historical evolution of the synagogue

The Synagogue of El Tránsito is located inside the Jewish Quarter, which was formed by butchers, souks, walls, doors, houses, streets, adarves, houses of study of the law and up to a total of ten synagogues more. All this information is known thanks to a 14th century poem by Yakob Albeneh. Also known, thanks to him, the name of some quarters of the Jewry like the one of Hamanzeit. The Hebrew minority settled in the western part of the city; The Jewry had its own inner wall and the multitude of adarves and alleys facilitated the defense with doors and closures in the street. The conquest of Toledo by the Christians did not change the situation of the Jewish community and in the 13th century the fence disappears and the Jewish quarter is mixed with the city.

Reredos of Our Lady of El Tránsito

Through a series of excavations carried out in early 2000, it was possible to determine that under the foundations of the synagogue there would be a complex of baths, called Hamman de Zeit, that was destroyed for the construction of the synagogue between 1357 and 1363. In addition to the terrain of the bathing area, the nearby houses were demolished and the synagogue was built on this land, unknown architect by the patronage of Samuel ha-Levi. Next to the Synagogue would be constructed the Mikveh possibly also supported by Samuel ha-Levi.

18th century drawing of the original synagogue

After the expulsion of the Jews in 1492, the Jewry is occupied by the nobility and the area of ​​the synagogue is granted by the Catholic Monarchs to the Order of Calatrava, That places there the priory of San Benito and it becomes a private church of the Order, building to the north side a file for the military Orders of Calatrava and Alcántara.

In the 17th century the church of San Benito became popularly known as "del Tránsito" due to the order that a Calatravan knight performs to the painter of the Toledan school Juan Correa de Vivar, a painting of the Transit of Our Lady , Which adorned the Plateresque altar ever since.

Until the 19th century, the church still belongs to the military orders, appearing in the documentation as "hermitage of San Benito", extramural of the city, very abandoned and in continuous deterioration. The confiscation of 1835 scarcely affects the building but the furniture, and in 1877 the king, according to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando and proposed by the Directorate General of Public Instruction, declares the chapel of El Tránsito as a National Monument.

Later, in 1964, it was decided that the Synagogue Samuel ha-Levi is the seat of the Sephardic Museum, which aims to preserve the legacy of the Hispanic-Jewish and Sephardic culture to be integrated as an essential part of the Historic Patrimony (Spain), Heritage that plays until the present time.

Analysis of the work

The dimensions of this temple are 23 meters long, 9.5 meters wide and 17 meters high. The building has a floor plan, rectangular, as in many Christian buildings of the time. The elevation is divided into two floors, the first is the area where the area of ​​the rite would be located and in the upper zone still can be seen the location of the beams that held the place where the women were placed, which are hidden from the men by lattices attended the liturgy.

Technical analysis

Materials

The main materials of this construction are the brick, the masonry, the wood and the plaster. The exterior is formed by masonry in the bulk of the building, with reinforcing bricks while making a decorative effect, in corners, around the spans and upper structures. The brick can be considered the cornerstone, it is the stonework of the Arab that influenced directly to the Mudéjar, that is not conceived without this material. The alternation of these materials achieves an enrichment of the synagogue, which by what we can contemplate are simple materials and a low cost.

In the interior, it emphasizes the use of the plaster applied on the walls with decorative effect, and the wood of coffered, in concrete of conifer, that covers the whole surface of the synagogue. It can also find wood in the lattices, windows and doors, and a last material, ivory, decorative inlaid in the roof. The plasterwork and the wood are polychromed, which meant a very varied use in the pigments, are light materials, to which they are extracted the maximum architectonic party. The pavement consists of ceramic slabs some glazed and others not, of different colors, but it could be that the ones that are not glazed is due to a wear and not to a concrete purpose.

Techniques

Yeseria

Yeseria in the Women's Gallery

For the execution of this work different techniques were used. The size or knife technique, requires a process of sieving, kneading the wet and carved mixture. The final finish is done by cleaning and polishing until shiny.

The mold was used a lot for repeated friezes or for inscriptions on graves or works done in pulpits. First the subject was drawn by making an incision and elaborating the size. It was emptied and different levels worked until the usual vegetal or epigraphic themes were finally painted or gilded. The finish was sometimes with oils that made the work impermeable. Modeling on a matrix was another technique used.

The materials and techniques used in the construction of this synagogue have a close relationship with the historical context and the socio-economic circumstances that have surrounded it. Its authorship is anonymous, but we know the promoter of the building, Samuel ha-Leví, who as we mentioned before, was a Jew who was a councilor and treasurer of the monarch Peter of Castile at the stage of the Reconquista. Therefore, in this building are mixed the different cultures that were in Spain at this time, Jewish, Christian and, of course, Islamic, to which we owe almost all the technical and decorative influence of this synagogue. In the same way as the constructive form, it has in common the scientific knowledge of all these cultural movements, especially Islamic, by the lightness of its materials and the lack of architectural fanfare abroad. In addition, it is geographically in the center with more activity of the three cultures at the time of its construction, Toledo.

Restorations

After the expulsion of the Jews in 1492, the building was assigned to the Order of Calatrava, which made minor modifications for its use. For its use as a church some changes were made, they built an altar, in front of the torah ark, and in the 15th century the small access door to the sacristy, built in Plateresque style, was built. The rest of dependencies were used as hospital and asylum of the monks.

The most significant restorations began in 1877, shortly after being declared Monumento Histórico-Artístico. The first intervention, by the architect Santiago Martín Ruiz and the sculptor Francisco Isidori, focused mainly on the decoration of the interior, but due to economic and legal problems the works were paralyzed. Years later, Arturo Mélida elaborated a second project that only came to be realized in part. Several reasons delayed the restoration for decades, until at the beginning of the 20th century the Marquis of la Vega-Inclán and the architect Eladio Laredo resumed the work, returning to the Synagogue its primitive splendor.

Finally, in the 1960's, the last remodeling was carried out to start the current museum. Its state of conservation is excellent. The only thing that could see the deterioration in a more significant way is the wear of the polychrome, both of the yeserias and the wooden roof.

Formal analysis

Mudéjar art

Mudéjar art is an artistic style that develops in the newly reconquered Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula, but incorporates influences, elements or materials of Hispano-Muslim style. It is the direct consequence of the coexistence existing between the cultural groups of the Medieval Spain, being an exclusively Hispanic phenomenon that takes place between the 12th and 16th centuries, as a union of Christian artistic trends (Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance) and Moslem of the time, and that becomes the point of connection between the Christian cultures and the Islam. It is not a unitary artistic style, but it has peculiar characteristics in each region, among which are the Toledan, Leonese, Aragonese and Andalusian Mudéjar. One of the characteristics of Islamic art, apart from decoration, is the lack of a developed architectural technique. Accepts the bow but without using it as a constructive solution, but as a decorative measure.

Toledan Mudéjar

After the conquest of Toledo, Muslim artists who remain working in that city initially repeat the models from Córdoba and those of the Taifa period, but soon they will be influenced by Almoravid art and the Almohad to the point that they are going to merge them in a style own. Highlights in this period are the yeserias of the Synagogue of Santa María la Blanca. Toledan yeserias separated from the Granadan of the 13th century: Granadan artists forget about the compact backgrounds formed by the leaves. The Toledan yeserias plaster of thicker bill, they appear Islamic rhythms, flora and animals of 10th and 11th centuries.

The Toledan naturalism From the middle of the 14th century, the Christian flora begins to appear in the Toledan yeserias. The artists knew how to take advantage of the different decorative elements from very different origins, especially leaves and fruits of Gothic inspiration. Juxtaposing the Muslim decoration and the new Christian flora, this one occupies the foreground, leaving however the Almoravid-Almohad context, to which are added the ornamental accessories originating from the local decoration of Córdoban taste. They are of exceptional importance the yeserias of the Synagogue of El Tránsito where it is possible to be said that the fullness of the style is reached. In this synagogue the horseshoe-shaped arches are used, which demonstrates this union between the Christians and the Islamic. Similarly, in the lower part of the synagogue are the bare walls and all the rest with a profuse decoration, it is a mixture between the Jewish sobriety and the obsession with the horror vacui of the Arabs.