The first mention of a proper “callis iudaicus” in Barcelona was at the end of the 11th century. In the 12th century, the Jewish quarter began to grow and what began as just a small street transformed into a neighbourhood. Its limits weren’t always clearly defined, and they changed over the centuries. It wasn’t what we know as a ghetto, as it wasn’t properly enclosed and, as documents show, Jewish and Christian communities were in permanent contact. The limits of the Jewish quarter were more of a casual nature, the buildings nearby being that which prevented the neighbourhood from growing: the Roman wall on the north side, the Cathedral and cleric houses on the south side, the bishop’s palace on the west and the archbishop’s palace and the New Castle (Castell Nou) on the east. Over time, and as the community grew, this disposition made space within the Jewish quarter insufficient and a second quarter (“Call Menor”) appeared in 1257. In this new Jewish quarter, Jews and Christians lived together, and is therefore difficult to distinguish its limits.

Apart from the relationship of owners that we can find in the documentation, the structure of the Jewish medieval houses does not differ from those of the rest of the city. Only some everyday religious elements can show that they are a Jewish home.