Judería, Toledo

To the west of the Cathedral, on the edge of the old Jewish quarter, the Judería, is the Plaza de Santo Tomé, with the church of Santo Tomé. Originally a mosque, the church was rebuilt by the Count of Orgaz in Gothic style in the 14th century, with a beautiful Mudéjar tower.

North of Santo Tomé, in Calle de las Bulas, is the Museum of Contemporary Art, with a collection of 20th century figurative art.

A little way south of Santo Tomé can be found the Taller del Moro, actually a 15th century palace, which now houses a small Museum of Mudéjar Art, with examples of Moorish carving and sculpture.

Calle de los Alamillos leads to Calle Samuel Leví, in which is the Casa El Greco. It is not certain that El Greco actually lived in this house or died there in 1614; but at any rate it is the only survivor of the houses adjoining the synagogue of El Tránsito, the property of the Marquese de Villena, in one of which El Greco is known to have lived. The building was renovated in 1906 and equipped with furniture and sculpture belonging to El Greco.

A short distance away from the Casa y Museo El Greco is the Mudéjar-style Sinagoga del Tránsito, built in 1366 by Samuel ha-Levi, treasurer to Pedro I of Castile. After the expulsion of the Jews in 1492 the synagogue was given to the knightly Order of Calatrava. In the aisleless interior are decorative friezes and Hebrew inscriptions in praize of Jahweh, Samuel ha-Levi and Pedro I, both above and below the magnificent windows with their cusped arches. The ceiling is also very fine.

The Mudéjar church of Santa María la Blanca, built in 12th and 13th C., was a synagogue. After the reconquest of Toledo it was given to the Order of Calatrava and in 1405 became a Christian church. It has an artesonado ceiling and 28 horseshoe arches with pine-cone capitals.

In the same square as the Taller del Moro is the Palacio de Fuensalida, in which Isabella of Portugal, wife of Charles V, died in 1539.