Toledo is very proud of its multicultural history and for the fact that for many centuries under the Muslim rule and then under the Christian rulers (until Catholic Isabel and Ferdinand put a definitive end to it in 1492) that people of these three faiths lived, worked, and traded together and also shared their intellectual wisdom and artistic skills. Most of the mosques are built over ancient Visigoths churches and then they were converted to Christian churches. One place we went to was built as a synagogue by Muslim workers, so it looks rather like a mosque, and was then converted to a Catholic Church.
The Moors, Muslims primarily from Morocco, were some of the best craftsman. So, even after the Muslims were conquered by the Christians, they were often hired to build the churches and do the needed craftsmanship. The word for this is Mudejar style meaning "those who stayed". Southern Spain and Toledo are filled with architecture of this style.
I love that Toledo is proud of that time in its history. It can provide hope for a world in the future where these faiths once again can live peacefully side by side. But, following this time was one of the most horrific periods of intolerance by the Catholic Church, namely the Spanish Inquisition. Jews and Muslims were persecuted, tortured and killed if they didn't convert or flee. I asked the tour guide if there were Jews and Muslims in Toledo today and she shrugged and said maybe a few, not many. It is likely that the saying "Holy Toledo " comes from the Sephardic Jews (Jews from Spain) who came to America and remembered that there was a time when Jews lived well in Toledo.
I had wondered why St. James and some of the other apostles went to Spain to spread the gospel. I heard that the reason why they went there, and namely to Finisterre (where I finished the Camino) was that Finisterre, which means end of the land or earth as they then believed, is part of the Great Commission. Go to the ends of the earth...
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