Did the Nazis Cover Up a Jewish Discovery in Spain's ‘Oldest Christian Basilica’?
In the outskirts of Elche, Spain, a mere twenty-minute drive from the touristy beachside town of Alicante, lies the remains of an ancient Roman colony. Among the many important archeological discoveries found in the area is a building that, for almost a century, has been identified as Spain’s oldest Christian basilica. This fact alone would make the site worthy of the attention, but new research argues that the church was originally a synagogue. The reason that neither scholars nor the thousands of holiday makers who flock to the region each year have heard about the building’s Jewish heritage is because excavations of the site during WWII were conducted under the watchful eyes of German archaeologists appointed by the Nazi regime.
The structure of the building took place in two stages. There is a main hall that was built in the fourth century and an apse that was added in the fifth. The apse clearly indicates that by the fifth century the space was being used as a church, but was this the case with the earlier structure? If it was, then it has a good case for being Spain’s earliest Christian basilica, but if not then we have to wonder for what purposes the building was used.
Robyn Walsh, an assistant professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of Miami and the author of the recently published article “Reconsidering the Synagogue/Basilica of Elche, Spain,” argues that the basilica was originally a Jewish synagogue. She told The Daily Beast that the “best evidence” for the building’s use comes from the mosaic that was unearthed on the building’s floor. She pointed to inscriptions dedicated to the “archons and elders” and dedicating the building as a “place of prayer of the people” as suggestive of Jewish use. These, she said, “correspond well with inscriptions found elsewhere in the Jewish diaspora— including other synagogue inscriptions.”