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The city is postulated as a main candidate thanks to its Jewish past and the existence of important archaeological remains that join the exhibition "Lights of Sepharad" and the itinerant exhibition "Footprints of Jewish Culture", which has toured important cities related to the Jewish area such as Lucena, Toledo, Ávila or Córdoba, members of the Network of Spanish Jewish Quarters, among others

The Councilor for Tourism of the City of Lorca, Francisco Montiel, presented this morning the project with which the city will participate in the process of admission of new cities to the Jewish Network "Caminos de Sefarad".

It is a silk-screened wooden box with characteristic aspects of the Jewish culture, with the name of the city and the logo "Lorca we embroider" and that inside contains a pen drive with all the information and a dozen photographs.

Francisco Montiel pointed out that "the cultural and tourism proposal of the Network of Spanish Jewish Quarters has generated great interest among many Spanish municipalities that have a history of Jewish presence, as is the case in our city. of the Network of some cities, has encouraged the institution to open a new process of admission of new members, by which between three and six cities could be incorporated in 2019. "

The Councilor for Tourism has detailed that "Lorca is nominated as a main candidate, so the project presented by the commission created for this purpose, consists of 7 points that are composed of a description of the municipality, the tourist bet for the tourist development, the discovery of the Jewish Quarter and the Synagogue, the historical justification, the presence of material elements, the organizational capacity of the municipality and territoriality, as well as an annex with photographs of the Jewish Quarter, the Synagogue, the Castle of Lorca, Jewish archaeological remains, Sephardic elements exhibited in the Archaeological Museum, Holy Week, Saint Patrick and Plaza de España and the beaches of Puntas de Calnegre, as well as a promotional video, a technical report of the historical part and several certificates.

Montiel stressed that "the inclusion of our municipality in the Network of Jewish Quarters in Spain has the full support of the Consistory, which shows the interest that Lorca brings to our past and culture. City Council in its ordinary plenary session, unanimously approved the application for inclusion of the city in the Network of Spanish Jewish Quarters "Caminos de Sefarad", noting that the excavation of the eastern area of ​​the Castle of Lorca, linked to the construction of the Parador, The most important campaigns were those of 2003, the year of the discovery of the Jewish quarter and of the years 2005-2008, which allowed a more exhaustive study of the synagogue building and its relationship with the rest of the Jewish quarter. "

The Tourist Councilor recalled that "it was in 2003 when the Synagogue was discovered and the appearance of significant elements such as the Hanukkah, facts that made possible the identification of the Jewish quarter of Medieval Lorca, located in the eastern part of the castle , with a synagogue complex given the relationship between the synagogue building and a house, known as "the house VII." In particular, the dating of the building of the Synagogue corresponds to the first half of the fifteenth century, when he grew up considerably the population and it became necessary to build a building that could satisfy the community needs ".

The importance of these findings of the Jewish presence in Lorca, had as a consequence and complement the exhibition "Lights of Sepharad", which opened in 2009 in Murcia, having visited the Spanish capital in 2015. In addition, three of the ritual lamps discovered in the excavations of the Synagogue were part of the exhibition entitled "Bibles of Sepharad" which was held at the National Library of Spain in Madrid.

The existence of these important archaeological remains has had a positive impact on our city, including, among other actions, the organization of visits from Jerusalem and Jewish institutions around the world, including the Sephardi Rabbi of Israel.

With the same purpose of disseminating the findings, the Lorca City Council organized the itinerant exhibition "Traces of Jewish Culture", which has visited important cities related to the Jewish area such as Lucena, Toledo, Ávila or Córdoba, members of the Red de Jewish quarters of Spain.

Specifically in our city, a Jewish Culture Festival has been organized since 2013, "Jewish Festival", which in collaboration with Casa Sefarad, offers the union of culture and leisure in a unique setting such as the Castle of Lorca.

It is also worth noting the participation for some years in the European Day of Jewish Culture, and as a more recent activity activities carried out in Cordoba to mark the 700th anniversary of its Synagogue.

Source: Ayuntamiento de Lorca