The Sinagoga del Tránsito is Toledo's finest surviving Jewish building and one of the most beautiful examples of Mudéjar art in Spain. Built in the 14th century by Samuel ha-Leví, treasurer to King Peter I of Castile, its exterior is deliberately plain — Jewish law prohibited ostentatious display. The interior is anything but: walls covered in intricate Mudéjar plasterwork, Hebrew inscriptions running along the upper frieze, and a ceiling of carved cedarwood.
After the expulsion of Spain's Jews in 1492, the building became a church, then a military headquarters, then a charity house, before finally being recognized as a national monument and opened as the Sephardic Museum. The museum traces the history of Sephardic Jews in Spain from their arrival to their expulsion and subsequent diaspora — through manuscripts, objects, and carefully restored fragments.
The Jewish Quarter surrounding the synagogue — the Judería — still has its medieval street pattern: narrow lanes, arches over passages, buildings that lean close enough to touch. Walk the district before or after visiting.