Archaeological investigations show that the original structure of the building was built in the third or fourth century; whether this structure was the synagogue cannot be said with certainty. The building was significantly expanded during the 13th century. Medieval Barcelona is known to have had several synagogues, and the main synagogue was certainly in the immediate area. King
James I visited the synagogue in 1263 at the conclusion of the
Barcelona Disputation.
Shlomo ben Aderet, leader of
Spanish Jewry of his time, served as the rabbi of the
Sinagoga Major for 50 years during the late 13th century. The Jews of Barcelona were
massacred in 1391. The building was then used for many purposes and its original use was forgotten. Over the centuries, additional stories were added to the building.
Restoration In 1987, Jaume Riera y Sans began researching the location of the
Sinagoga Major. His research was based on a reconstruction of the route followed by a thirteenth-century tax collector that ended at the
Sinagoga Major. Riera's work led Miguel Iaffa to examine the exterior of the building. Iaffa noted that the structure had been built in compliance with
religious requirements that the building should face Jerusalem and that it should have two windows. Iaffa purchased the building in 1995 when its owner put it up for sale. The Call Association of Barcelona (), led by Iaffa, undertook the recovery and restoration of the synagogue.
21st century The
Sinagoga Major was opened to the public in 2002, and it drew 20,000 visitors during 2005. A New York attorney donated a 500-year-old
sefer Torah (Torah scroll) to the synagogue in 2006. He struck the building's facade repeatedly with a baseball bat, and when a synagogue employee approached him, he beat the worker so severely with the bat the man had to be hospitalized with
cerebral contusions and a broken arm. The attacker was detained by police. ==Gallery==