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SYNAGOGUE AND JEWISH CHANUKAH
QUARTER
Lorca features non-ecclesiastical In mid-December, on the occasion of
monuments, such as the Synagogue the Moorish, Christian and Jewish
and the Jewish Quarter Archaeolo- festivities, the lighting of the Chanukah
gical Park. The medieval Jewish menorah takes place. This is a Jewish
neighbourhood of Lorca was inside the holiday that commemorates the
citadel, separated by walls from the rest defeat of the Greeks and the recovery
of the city. With an area of about of Jewish independence under the
5,700 square metres, so far 12 homes Maccabees in the second century BC.
and a fourteenth century synagogue
have been excavated, the only one The custom is to progressively light the
found in the Region of Murcia. nine-branched candelabra, known as
the Menorah. In Lorca, this is a cultural
Delve into the Jewish culture and event that takes place between late
religion by stepping inside the November and the first half of
Synagogue accessed via patio. Inside December. In recent years, the holiday
the prayer hall is where the Torah has taken place at the Lorca Castle
scrolls are held and a niche (Hechal Synagogue.
decorated with Gothic plasterwork.

You can also see the remains of the
plinth where the Bimah stood from
which the Torah was read.