Grand Synagogue of Paris

10 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Paris / Île-de-France Reading Time:  8 minutes

© Luiza Fediuc/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Luiza Fediuc/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Grand Synagogue of Paris (French: Grande Synagogue de Paris), generally known as Synagogue de la Victoire (English: Synagogue of Victory) or Grande Synagogue de la Victoire (English: Grand Synagogue of Victory), is situated at 44, Rue de la Victoire, in the 9th arrondissement. It also serves as the official seat of the chief rabbi of Paris.   read more…

Córdoba Synagogue

7 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  8 minutes

West wall © Américo Toledano/cc-by-sa-3.0

West wall © Américo Toledano/cc-by-sa-3.0

Córdoba Synagogue (Spanish: Sinagoga de Córdoba) is a historic edifice in the Jewish Quarter of Córdoba (part of the UNESCO World Heritage “Historic centre of Córdoba“), Spain, built in 1315. The synagogue’s small size points to it having possibly been the private synagogue of a wealthy man. It is also possible that Córdoba’s complex of buildings was a yeshivah, kollel, or study hall. Another possibility is that this was the synagogue of a trade guild, which converted a residence or one of the work rooms into the synagogue. The synagogue was decorated according to the best Mudejar tradition.   read more…

Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi

20 August 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Abrahamic Family House model © flickr.com - U.S. Embassy Jerusalem/cc-by-2.0

Abrahamic Family House model © flickr.com – U.S. Embassy Jerusalem/cc-by-2.0

The Abrahamic Family House is an interfaith complex on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The undertaking was inspired by the Document on Human Fraternity signed by Pope Francis on behalf of the Catholic Church and Ahmed El-Tayeb on behalf of the al-Azhar Mosque on Feb. 4, 2019 in Abu Dhabi. It houses the St. Francis Church, Imam Al-Tayeb Mosque and Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue in separate structures.   read more…

Union Libérale Israélite de France in Paris

11 May 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Paris / Île-de-France Reading Time:  5 minutes

© GFreihalter/cc-by-sa-3.0

© GFreihalter/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Union Libérale Israélite de France (ULIF), commonly referred to as the rue Copernic synagogue, is a Liberal Jewish synagogue, located in Paris, France. Inaugurated on the first of December 1907, it is the oldest Reform synagogue in France.   read more…

Roonstrasse Synagogue in Cologne

21 April 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Interior © Horsch, Willy/cc-by-3.0

Interior © Horsch, Willy/cc-by-3.0

Roonstrasse Synagogue, located in Cologne, Germany, is the only surviving of the five synagogues of the city before the Nazi era. On August 19, 2005, Pope Benedict XVI visited Roonstrasse Synagogue. This visit was the second ever visit to any synagogue by any one of the Popes. There, he condemned Nazism and antisemitism.   read more…

Ghetto of Rome

6 April 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  15 minutes

Great Synagogue of Rome © Livioandronico2013/cc-by-sa-4.0

Great Synagogue of Rome © Livioandronico2013/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Roman Ghetto or Ghetto of Rome (Italian: Ghetto di Roma) was a Jewish ghetto established in 1555 in the Rione Sant’Angelo, in Rome, Italy, in the area surrounded by present-day Via del Portico d’Ottavia, Lungotevere dei Cenci, Via del Progresso and Via di Santa Maria del Pianto, close to the River Tiber and the Theatre of Marcellus. With the exception of brief periods under Napoleon from 1808 to 1815 and under the Roman Republics of 1798–99 and 1849, the ghetto of Rome was controlled by the papacy until the capture of Rome in 1870.   read more…

El Ghriba Synagogue on Djerba

5 March 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  10 minutes

© flickr.com - Bellyglad/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – Bellyglad/cc-by-2.0

The ancient El Ghriba Synagogue, also known as the Djerba Synagogue, is located on the Tunisian island of Djerba. It is situated in the Jewish village of Hara Seghira (currently known as er-Riadh), several kilometres southwest of Houmt El Souk, the main town of Djerba. The synagogue is the oldest in Tunisia, and besides being the center of the island’s Jewish life is also a site of pilgrimage, one of the legends associated with its founding claims that either a stone or a door from Solomon’s Temple or the Second Temple is incorporated in the building.   read more…

Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism

27 January 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  4 minutes

© flickr.com - Fred Romero/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – Fred Romero/cc-by-2.0

The NS-Dokumentationszentrum is a museum in the Maxvorstadt area of Munich, Germany, which focuses on the history and consequences of the Nazi regime and the role of Munich as Hauptstadt der Bewegung (′capital of the movement′).   read more…

Kazimierz in Krakow

27 January 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  19 minutes

Szeroka Street © flickr.com - Ana Paula Hirama/cc-by-sa-2.0

Szeroka Street © flickr.com – Ana Paula Hirama/cc-by-sa-2.0

Kazimierz is a historical district of Kraków and Kraków Old Town, Poland. From its inception in the 14th century to the early 19th century, Kazimierz was an independent city, a royal city of the Crown of the Polish Kingdom, located south of the Old Town of Kraków, separated from it by a branch of the Vistula river. For many centuries, Kazimierz was a place where ethnic Polish and Jewish cultures coexisted and intermingled. The northeastern part of the district was historically Jewish. In 1941, the Jews of Kraków were forcibly relocated by the German occupying forces into the Krakow Ghetto just across the river in Podgórze, and most did not survive the war. Today, Kazimierz is one of the major tourist attractions of Krakow and an important center of cultural life of the city. The boundaries of Kazimierz are defined by an old island in the Vistula river. The northern branch of the river (Stara Wisła – Old Vistula) was filled-in at the end of the 19th century during the partitions of Poland and made into an extension of Stradomska Street connecting Kazimierz district with Kraków Old Town.   read more…

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