Jewish Square

Besalú’s thriving Jewish community fled the town in 1436 after relentless Christian persecution. It left behind a 12th-century riverside miqvé (ritual bath), a rare survivor of its kind in Spain, which was rediscovered in 1964. It sits inside a vaulted stone chamber, around which remnants of the 13th-century synagogue were unearthed in 2005. Access to the miqvé is by guided tour with the tourist office or Ars Didàctica, but you can see the square and ruin exterior independently.