Jewish Necropolis of Lucena

The Jewish necropolis of Lucena is the largest and best-preserved funerary site of this culture in Europe. It covers a total area of over 3,700 square metres.
 

It was discovered on 20 October 2006, when the new Ronda Sur was being constructed in Lucena. The discovery was entirely by chance, as a local citizen was walking his dog on the Cerro Hacho, which had a human femur in its mouth. The police and the municipal archaeologist were notified and it was confirmed that the bone came from a Jewish cemetery dating between the year 1000 and 1050. At that time, Lucena was known as Elí Hoshaná, the "Pearl of Sefarad". These were times of great Jewish prosperity in the city.
 

In total, 346 graves were discovered. Of these, 196 contained the remains of the deceased, oriented towards Jerusalem. One of them was a man who measured between 2 and 2.20 metres tall, possibly suffering from gigantism. The University of Granada studied these remains. Among the archaeological finds was one of the few Jewish tombstones found in the Iberian Peninsula. Its inscriptions were analysed by Dr. Jordi Casanovas Miró, a scholar of Semitic Philology. Today, this tombstone (dating from the 8th and 9th centuries) can be seen at the Lucena Interpretation Centre.
 

The remains from the graves were exhumed, however, the Jewish community protested. Finally, in December 2011, it was decided to reinter these remains according to Jewish ritual, with the support of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain. The area occupied by the necropolis thus remains a sacred place.
 

Later, preparations began to open the site to the public. The perimeter of the area was fenced in. A Wailing Wall was built. Information panels about the Sephardic community in Spain and Lucena, and the Talmudic school, were also installed.
 

Researchers identified three types of graves and two subtypes:

• Simple pit: simple or chamber type pit, cot or side niche.
• Stepped pit: the most common in the necropolis, being the typology of up to 176 found. They feature a step, on the north and south sides or on all their sides. This was done to separate the lower part of the pit from the upper one, which was filled with the earth extracted to make the pit. The two levels would be separated by planks or wooden boards, or by stones (tegulae). The upper pit plan had four shapes: rectangular, square, oval and ovoid. While the upper pit could be rectangular, oval, ovoid and anthropomorphic in shape
• Mixed pit: here the two previous typologies would be combined in a pit, the stepped pit with the side niche or cot.

Four types of graves were recreated according to the different burial methods discovered.
 

On 27 September 2013, the necropolis was opened to the public, being one of the few that can be visited, along with those of Plasencia and Segovia.

Thanks to the discovery of this necropolis and its enhancement, Lucena belongs to the Network of Jewish Quarters of Spain.