ABSTRACT
It is impossible to take in the magnificence of Toledo without feeling the weight of 1492, and the translations and misnamings that have come in its wake. Two narratives collide in the city. First there is the memory of the legendary coexistence of languages and religions during the Golden Age of Spain. But, then, there is the cruel shadow cast by the expulsion of the Jews and the Muslims by Ferdinand and Isabella. Some especially poignant renamings bring this second moment into sharp focus. Tourists are invited to visit a “synagogue” called Santa Maria la Blanca. The Christian name literally obliterates the medieval Ibn Shoshan (or Sinagoga Mayor) and recreates the action of a forced conversion.
