Rome in the Footsteps of an XVIIIth Century Traveller

Toledo is an ancient and formerly a highly celebrated city, and was, in succession, the seat of empire of the Goths, the Moors, and the kings of Castile. The kings of the Goths made it their residence in 567; it was taken from them by the Moors in 711, and became a dependency on the caliphs of Damascus and Baghdad; at length it formed a part of the kingdom of Cordova, till a prince of the Moorish blood royal raised the standard of revolt, and established a separate empire, of which Toledo, about the year 1027, became the capital.
Alexandre de Laborde - A View of Spain - translated into English for Longman, Hurst, etc. 1809
Cristo de la Luz is situated near the gate by the same name. From the inscription in the outer wall we know it was erected in 999 by Ahmad ibn Hadidi, a member of a local noble house using an architect called Musa ibn Ali, possibly on the site of a church, because Visigothic capitals were reused on the four central columns which divide the interior space into nine roughly equal sections. No trace remains of the original plaster or other decorative features of the interior.

Iglesia de Cristo de la Luz: (left) apse; (right) false Arabic inscription in the interior

In the Calle de Cristo de la Lux is a very curious Moorish mosque, which was afterwards given to the Templars. (..) Alonso VI paused here to say mass when he entered Toledo as its conqueror in 1085.
Richard Ford - A Handbook for Travellers in Spain - 1855
The present apse was added in 1190 by the Knights Hospitaller in mudéjar style. Mudéjar is the term used to indicate the Moorish style which characterizes some monuments which were built after the Christian Reconquista of Spain, the finest example being the Real Alcazar of Seville.
The image used as background for this page shows a detail of the side wall of the building.

Near Cristo de la Luz: (left) San Nicolas; (centre) Palacio Benacazam; (right) reliefs in Calle Silleria

Inside, the streets or rather wynds, are irregular, ill-paved, steep, and tortuous; but such intentional intricacy and narrowness rendered them easy to defend when attacked, and kept them cool in summer, however unpopular to travellers not in search of the picturesque. The houses are massive and Moorish-like, for the city was 350 years under their enlightened dominion. Ford
Actually most of the medieval buildings of Toledo, although having a Moorish aspect, were built after the Christian conquest and some of them were embellished with Roman and Visigothic materials.

Iglesia de El Salvador: (left/centre) structures of the mosque; (right) Roman capital, gravestone and relief on the minaret/ bell tower

This church stands on the site of a mosque which in turn stood on a Visigothic church (see a decorated pillar of that building). The mosque was built or redesigned in 1041 as indicated in an inscription. It was turned into a church in 1159 which shows that Muslims retained their mosques for a period of time after the Christian conquest of the town.

(left) Iglesia de San Roman: mudéjar interior; (right) nearby Palacio de Oter de Lobos (early XIVth century)

In San Roman is some Moorish work and inscriptions, with singular arches and ancient pillars. Ford
The church was consecrated in 1221 and has mural frescoes and some Arabic as well as Latin painted inscriptions. It houses Museo de los Concilios y de la Cultura Visigoda.

Iglesia de Santa Leocadia: (left) façade; (right) bell tower

Leocadia was cast down from the rock of Toledo (at the time of Emperor Diocletian): a chapel was raised on the site of her fall, in which many councils were held; during one of which, in 660, angels appeared and removed the stone from her sepulchre; she forthwith arose "clad in a mantilla' and informed the president San Ildefonso, that "her mistress lived through him". (..) The body, according to some churchmen, ascended to heaven, while others assert that when the Moors invaded Toledo a Fleming carried it off to Flanders. The corpse was rediscovered at Saint Ghislain, in 1500, when Philip I obtained a portion of it for the chapter of Toledo; the rest was removed by the relicomaniac Philip II when fearful that the heretics would conquer the Low Countries, and get possession of such a treasure as this. He received the remains at the cathedral in person, April 26, 1587. Ford
Leocadia is to Toledo what Eulalia is to Merida. In the XIIIth century a mudéjar church was built on the site of the house where Leocadia was born.

Iglesia de Santiago del Arrabal (a word indicating a neighbourhood outside the town, it is situated near Puerta Nueva de Bisagra): (left) façade; (right) bell tower

This is another church built in the XIIIth century. It was dedicated to Saint John the Apostle, a saint who is particularly venerated in Spain for his legendary intervention on the Christian side in a battle against the Moors, hence he is often referred to as Santiago Matamoros, Slayer of the Moors, and portrayed as a medieval knight, e.g. at Granada. This and other medieval churches of Toledo were restored in the XXth century with the aim of enhancing their original mudéjar features, with the unwelcome result of giving them a too-new appearance.

Sinagoga de Santa Maria la Blanca: (left) interior; (right) capitals

It is almost impossible to pass through the southern part of the town (where the Jewish quarter was situated) without lamenting the vicissitudes of human life; the heaps of earth, bricks, and tiles, present the mournful remains of houses, the situation of which they now occupy. Laborde
When Toledo was first taken by the Moors it was filled with Hebrews; (..) they, resenting the Gothic persecution, facilitated the progress of the Berbers. (..) The Jews of Toledo, when their Moorish friends seized their money, turned to the avenging Christian, and facilitated the conquest of the city, in 1085, by Alonso VI. (..) Descend by narrow lanes to the former Juderia, or Jews' quarter, in which two most singular synagogues yet remain, although sadly degraded. The first, now called la Santa Maria la Blanca in 1405, when the ferocious persecutor San Vicente de Ferrer goaded the mob on against the Jews, was converted into a church; so it remained until the French degraded it into a storehouse. The architecture deserves much notice; the ground plan resembles that of a basilica. Observe the three aisles divided by polygonal pillars, which support horseshoe arches, springing from bastard Gothic capitals; remark the circular patterns in the spandrels, the stars, chequer work, and engrailed Moorish arches. (..) The ceiling is said to be made from beams of the cedars of Lebanon, and the soil below the pavement was brought from Mount Zion. Ford
The synagogue was built in the early XIIIth century. In origin the brick pillars and arches were not painted. Today the building houses temporary exhibitions and cultural events.

Sinagoga del Transito: (left) interior; (right) "artesonado" ceiling, a mudéjar coffered wooden ceiling

There is indeed one very great curiosity at Toledo, not yet mentioned, which is an original Hebrew Temple, and it certainly is a fine remain; but here, to my sorrow, the piety of the Spaniard in converting this temple from Judaism to Christianity, or rather to Popery, has taken away much matter of entertainment to the antiquarians. The antient divisions were all taken down; the sanctum sanctorum and even the tabernacle itself was here literally done away. There was likewise above a separate tribune for the women and the walls, which are covered with the finest Hebrew characters in the world, I believe; written all over with the Psalms in Hebrew; these the good Spaniard had very zealously plaistered over with untempered mortar. (..) There were now no longer any traces or appearance of aught that ever had been Jewish. (..) There was nothing but a vague and vulgar tradition remaining, to prove that it ever had been Jewish, and was now wearing the name of San-Benito.
Edward Clarke - Letters concerning the Spanish nation: written during the years 1760 and 1761
The other synagogue, although less ancient, is finer and better preserved; although consecrated to San Benito, it is called el Transito, from a picture of the death of the Virgin, which has disappeared during recent reforms. It was built in 1357, by Samuel or Simel Levi, treasurer to Don Pedro the Cruel, and in fact his Joseph, his Mordecai. His royal master, however, in 1360, being in want of cash, and knowing the value of a Jew's eye, first tortured and then killed poor Levi, seizing his money-bags; all this rather pleased the Spaniards, who hated a Hebrew, whose strictness in tax-gathering had rendered him unpopular. Ford

Sinagoga del Transito: decoration of the upper part of the walls

But fortunately for the antiquarians, a canon and treasurer of the church of Toledo, whose name is Don Perez Bayer, being a man of parts and learning, and having a particular turn for Hebrew, as one would think indeed from his name: This gentleman, I say, happily observing, that in some places where the plaister had fallen off, Hebrew letters might be traced, he had spirit enough instantly to set about the displaistering the inside of the temple, and has since very accurately and carefully copied the whole into a book. Clarke
The upper parts, being out of reach, have escaped better, so observe, the honeycomb cornice, the rows of engrailed Moorish arches, and the superb artesonado roof. A broad band with foliage contains the arms of Leon and Castile, and is edged with the 84th Psalm in Hebrew characters, and a damaged inscription. (..) Isabella, in 1494, gave the building to the order of Calatrava: then the holy of holies was converted into an archive. Ford
Today the building houses Museo Sefardi, sefardim being the Jews who lived in Spain until 1492.

Cathedral - Vestibule of Sala Capitular with the coat of arms of Cardinal Francisco Ximenez de Cisneros, Archbishop of Toledo in 1495-1517

Next visit la Sala Capitular de Invierno, the winter chapterhouse: the ante-room is very Moorish. The square portal was executed by Bernardino Bonifacio. Ford
The Moorish element of this portal is the sebka decoration, i.e. a grid of diamond shapes which characterizes the Giralda of Seville and the Minaret of the Great Mosque of Rabat.

Cathedral - Sala Capitular: ceiling

The superb artesonado ceiling was painted by Francisco Lara. Ford
The 1492 conquest of Granada and of the beautiful palaces of the Alhambra brought about a new interest for the Moorish style. This ceiling is only vaguely reminiscent of those at Granada, whereas another ceiling of the same period at Zaragoza has a more noticeable Moorish design.

Museo de la Santa Cruz (in the premises of the historical hospital): (left) Arab gravestones; (right) mudéjar glazed pottery wellhead (XIVth century)

Move to Roman and Visigothic Toledo, Walls and Gates of Toledo or Gothic and Renaissance Toledo.

Plan of this section (see its introductory pages):

Historical Region	Town
Andalusia	Almeria     Antequera     Baelo Claudia     Carmona     Cordoba     Granada     Italica     Jerez de la Frontera     Medina Azahara     Ronda     Seville     Tarifa
Extremadura	Caceres     Merida
Castile	Archaeological Park of Carranque     Castillo de Coca     Olmedo     Segovia     Toledo     Villa La Olmeda
Aragon	Teruel     Zaragoza
Valencia	Sagunto
Catalonia	Barcelona     Emporiae     Girona     Tarragona