The City Council of Estella-Lizarra and the University launch a project of research to promote the Jewish bequest of the city.

The Town Council of Estella-Lizarra, in partnership with the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) of the University of Navarra has launched a project of research to make visible in a more complete way the Jewishbequest that treasures the city. "We hope that it will contribute to enrich our history and our tourist offer, and that it will be the beginning and the trigger for new projects", said Cristina Pérez, Councillor for Tourism, Commerce and Hospitality, at the presentation of the study.

The research is led by Anna Dulska, PhD in History and expert in Sephardic bequest of the ICS. Dulska recalled that the two Jewish population centers that existed in the city (first Elgacena and, later, the New Jewry, when it became too small), "have been explored so far in a preliminary way, but require much more work to know them in depth.

After recalling that the Jewish Quarter of Estella-Lizarra was one of the most important in Navarre, together with those of Tudela and Pamplona, he explained that "this project proposed by the City Council to recover the knowledge on the Jewish heritage is a great joy" and in his opinion it will boost cultural tourism as an alternative and complement to entertainment and fun tourism.

"This tourism subject is a very promising weapon for the sector because it has a potential both in cultural and historical heritage, but also, in another sense, as we can see in Europe. And is that, Jewish neighborhoods tend to also become areas of bohemian character where cultural life flourishes," he explained.

The first phase of project, which could be continued depending on what is determined by research, will last approximately two months. It will include an on-site analysis to define the current state of the Jewish heritage, a bibliographic review and review of published historical sources, an emptying of the documents preserved in the archives that have not yet been published and an analysis of the vestiges, both movable and immovable.

Among other aspects, emphasis will be placed on the recovery of knowledge of the stores run by the Jews of Estella, "which helped to create the identity of what Estella is today and which can help us to create a high quality tourist product," said the expert.

A goal, in the words of the councilor, is "to find real and truthful data of possible businesses that were in La Rúa street to make them visible: it is not an easy task, but we hope to find information that provides rigor, veracity and, therefore, milestones or routes on which to initiate future projects".