The ancient house in El Call in Barcelona, Spain is said to be the former home of an alchemist. It is said that he cursed the House of the Alchemist after being involved in the tragic death of his own daughter.
In the middle of the Jewish district of Barcelona called El Call, at the end of the street there is a cafe called Satan's Coffee Corner. According to this legend, this is a seemingly apt name for what happened on this street many moons ago.
Today, the building is part of the Barcelona History Museum, which aims to show the life of the Jewish community that settled in Barcelona in the 9th century.
The Jewish Alchemist and his daughter
Already in the 14th century, a renowned Jewish alchemist lived at number 8 Arc de Sant Ramon del Call. The window and stone arch decorations have been preserved from this period.
He had a handsome daughter who fell in love with a Christian. The daughter wanted the man to ask her father for permission to get married and finally be together, but the man refused, knowing that the father would oppose their being together at all costs and would never consent to it.
Or maybe the man just wanted romance without the hassles of marriage. In any case, because the daughter did not see a future and being together, she ended the relationship when the man did not want to go to her father. However, this enraged the man and he decided to take revenge on her.
The alchemist's daughter's revenge
He went to her father, although for a completely different purpose than she wanted. The boy came to him and asked for poison to kill his former lover. The Alchemist was used by people who used their skills to give people what they wanted, whether it was a potion of love, wealth, or even death, he was ecstatic or at least willing to prepare deadly poisons for those who needed and they could pay.
It is said that the alchemist asked the boy whether he was giving the poison to a girl or a boy, and the boy replied that it was a girl. For this reason, the alchemist placed poison in a rose, where just smelling the flower could kill a person.
The boy paid for the deadly flower and went on his merry way. The alchemist shut himself up for the day and went upstairs to greet his daughter, not knowing what tragedy he had just created.
A flower for my daughter
That night, Christian went to his daughter's window and called to her. He gave her a rose, begging for her and saying that he wanted her back, that he loved her and would do anything for her.
Even though she broke up with him, she still missed him, and he said everything she wanted to hear. That's why she accepted the rose. After smelling the rose only once, she fell to the floor, writhing in pain until she died from her father's poison.
Her father entered her room in the morning and found her dead next to a flower he had made and sold.
The father fled from home and Barcelona. Before disappearing forever, he placed a curse on the house he once called home for himself and his daughter. He condemned the entire building and that it would bring misfortune to anyone who entered it, as it had done to him. According to legend, some people claim to hear a girl crying within the walls of house number 8, the alchemist's former home.
The truth about the alchemist's house
Did an alchemist live in this house? Did his daughter really die at the hands of the Christian boy and his own magic? Maybe it really happened, maybe not, but this story is a good allegory for what happened to the Jews in Barcelona at that time.
Over the years, the number of Jews in the city grew and flourished. Although relations between Jews and Christians have been strained throughout history, their coexistence in Barcelona until the 14th century was not considered bad.
Everything changed after the black plague hit the capital of Catalonia in 1348. There were many people to blame for this plague, witches, the devil, some even Jews. Many believed that Jews had some evil magic and were threatening. The king tried to defend the commune and even the pope came to the defense to silence the rumors. But it was too delayed, because the seeds of hatred had already been sown.
It all ended with a tragic massacre in 1391. Over 200 Jews were murdered in Castellnou. Some were even burned in the streets, and Jews had to flee the city, leaving most of their lives behind. Their entire community fell, and most of the buildings, streets, and houses they had built fell into the hands of Christians.
Jewish homes were rebuilt, and their mark on the city began to fade as the shops, houses, and people who lived there disappeared. Only a few houses remain, such as the Alchemist's House with its accompanying legends.
Reference:
The Alchemist's House opens as a cultural center for the Call
Alchemist's House | THE WORLD OF BARCELONA
Haunted and mysterious places in Barcelona | 19 Local Legends
Image Source: Pixabay.com
