Saturday, July 18, 2020

WHERE TO SEE MULTI-RELIGIOUS SITES in Spain, England and worldwide: Madrid, Seville, The Alhambra, The Alcazar

At many airports there are prayer rooms but one airport has a multi-faith prayer room.

When I lived in Rickville, Maryland, in the USA, two Christian and Jewish commnities saved money by having the same building. As the rabbi left at the end of the service on Saturday, having locked away the Jewish signs and symbols in the cupboard, he swivelled the sign at the from from saying synagogue to saying church reading for the wormshippers on Sunday.

The same was done in North West London, when a new Jewish community needed a building and were offerred the opporuntiyt to hire a church building for one day a week.

Over tin the eST

Spain
In Spain there's a fabulous whole ring of cities around the capital, central Madrid and more further south near Malaga: Segovia, Avila, Toledo and further south Granada and Seville. Plus Jerez de la Frontera, for sherry. Tours will take you to the major landmarks, the cathedrals and palaces. A surprising number have monuments and motifs sacred to more than one religion.

Granada. Alhambra.Court of the Lions


Court of the lions, Alhambra, Spain.

Granada - Alhambra
In Granada you see the Alhambra, which means red fort. (Al is the in Arabic.) A muslim stronghold with fabulous fountains in the gardens, and elaborate architecture, arches and intricate stone lacework and mosaics.


Alcazar, Seville, Spain. Roof showing eight point star.

Seville - Alcazar
In Seville you can visit the Alcazar. Cazar means castle (from Latin Castum) or palace. This is where my family recently saw a six point star. The guilde told them it was Christian, Moslem and Jewish symbol. The Alcazar of Seville was used as a setting in the film (movie) Lawrence of Arabia.

Something of multiple religions. Even a building which is a mosque and cathedral in one. (Cordoba?) And a synagogue converted into a different religious building. (Segovia)

Maimonides
In Catholic Cordoba, Spain, see the statue of Maimonides, medieval sage, revered by both Muslims and Jews. He wrote in Arabic. He travelled from Spain to the Middle East where he was the physician to the Kuridsh Moslem 'king', as well as treating Jews, and the poor, from morning to midnight, or at least sundown.


Across the Mediterranean, in Morocco, at Fez, you can see the house where he lived.


In Tiberias, Israel, you can see his monument and tomb.




TOLEDO
The synyagogue converted into the church.
Santa Maria La Blanca. (Website in Wikipedia listed below.)


The Six point Star - Easy to Draw
As a child I was delighted to discover that if you can draw a triangle, you can add a second one upside down over the first to create a six point star.

Israel and Jewish

Later I discovered that a star with six points is a symbol which you see on synagogues and the Israeli flag and souvenirs from Israel, ranging from ashtrays and ornaments to ear-rings and necklaces..

Having digested this information, I was surprised to see the symbol again in India, on buildings which were not Jewish. I learned that Muslims call the six point star the Seal of Solomon.

Recently, members of my family were in Spain, and saw a six point star which they say was a Christian symbol as well as being Muslim and Jewish.

  1. Star in Seville, Spain.


My family Let's look at the history of the star. Then I shall show where you might see it on your travels. In order to keep track of countries, I shall list them alphabetically.
See next post for more information on stars on buildings.

Other well-preserved, pre-expulsion synagogues in HíjarCórdobaBarcelona and Tomar.

Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synagogue_of_Santa_Mar%C3%ADa_la_Blanca
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/07/what-to-see-in-gibraltar.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibraltar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Gibraltar
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibraltar
https://wikitravel.org/en/Gibraltar
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Gibraltar
https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/SmartDeals-g187510-Gibraltar-Hotel-Deals.html
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/spain/entry-requirements
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/gibraltar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synagogues_of_Gibraltar

OK, so you can go. Which airlines will take you?
https://www.skyscanner.com.sg/flights-to/es/airlines-that-fly-to-spain.html

About the Author, Angela Lansbury










  • I and my family have lived in the UK, Spain, the USA and Singapore. I am a travel writer and photographer and teacher of English A level and English as a foreign language.

    Please come to a Toastmasters International Club where the English clubs have a language evaluator or grammarian.  We also have French, German, Mandarin Chinese, Tamil and other language clubs based in Singapore and many more online around the world which because of Covid-19 are now meeting online.

    I am President of Braddell Heights Advanced, meeting the first Wednesday of the month, Usually on Zoom. But the other Wednesdays have workshops on app learncool.sg
  • Incoming president Faith from Wed July 15th 2020 change dates and platforms so please contact the club.
  • Latest is only two meetings each month.

  • For meetings learncool it is quicker to type and easier to remember: 

  •  tinyurl.com/BHACOOL

    Useful Websites On Speaking and Languages
  • https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
    translate.google.com
    duolingo.com
  • https://www.duolingo.com/enroll/vi/en/Learn-Vietnamese
  • https://www.facebook.com/groups/polygotcommunity/

  • Other Useful Posts By Angela Lansbury Author
  • https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogs
    https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/04/how-to-say-thank-you-in-several.html
    https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/05/introducing-yourself-in-english-spanish.html
    https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/01/second-set-of-portuguese-words.html 
  • Please share links to your favourite posts




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