Synagogue of El Tránsito

**Islamic craftsmanship serving Christian and Jewish patrons — the clearest proof that the craft outlived the change of power.** ✅ **The definition**: ***Mudéjar*** (from the Arabic for those who remained) describes the Muslims who stayed in territory that passed to Christian rule. **The Mudéjar style is what those craftsmen built** for patrons of every religion. ✅ **Its elements**: **brick instead of stone** (cheaper and faster), **carved plaster** in geometric and vegetal patterns, **horseshoe and multifoil arches**, **coffered wooden ceilings (artesonado)**, and **coloured tile**. ⚠ **The paradox**: **you find these elements in churches, monasteries and Castilian royal palaces** — **even in the tombs of Christian kings**; **and they were not read as Islamic but as sumptuous**. ✅ **The reason is purely practical**: **Muslim craftsmen were the most skilled, the cheapest and the most numerous**, **and the technique was superior**; **whoever builds hires whoever builds well**. ✅ **This synagogue is the complete example**: **a Jewish patron, Muslim craftsmen, and a Christian king named in the inscription**. ⚠ **And the style continued for centuries** after the state that produced it had gone.