International Survey of Jewish Monuments

Recent Photo Galleries of Jewish Monuments

Hungary
    Synagogue in Mad by Samuel Gruber

The late Baroque-style synagogue in Mad was begun in 1795 and served the Jewish community in this wine-making center until the Holocaust. Abandoned and in ruins for decades, the building was beautifully restored beginning in the 1990s by the Hungarian government with assistance from the World Monuments Fund. It was opened to the public in May 2004.

Italy
    Old Jewish Cemetery, Florence (Firenze) by Samuel Gruber

The Old Jewish Cemetery in Florence is a reminder of the prosperity of the Jewish community in the 19th century, and it preserves funerary monuments of individuals and families active in the period of Jewish emancipation.

Syria
    Silenced Sacred Spaces: Selected Photographs of Syrian Synagogues by Robert Lyons

Silenced Sacred Spaces: is an exhibition drawn from the remarkable photographic survey conducted by Lyons for the World Monuments Fund ten years ago -- in the spring of 1995. The Jewish Heritage Research Center and the Lowe Art Gallery in Syracuse, NY first organized the exhibit, with financial assistance from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. It was on view at Yeshiva University Museum in New York from September 1997 through January 1998 and at the B'nai Brith Klutznick National Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. through the end of 1998. The exhibition is now housed at the American Sephardi Federation, Center for Jewish History, New York.

Afghanistan
    The Yu Aw Synagogue in Herat by Annette Ittig

Selected photographs taken in January 1998 by Annette Ittig as part of a larger project to document and protect the historic Old City of Herat.

The Czech Republic
    Boskovice Synagogue by Samuel Gruber

The "Greater Synagogue" in Boskovice is situated on the northern edge of the former Jewish quarter, near the historical center of the town. It is a two-story, free-standing, oblong building with a ridged roof. It has a typical synagogue layout: on the ground floor, the entrance hall leads to the main sanctuary for men; in the sanctuary, the holy ark is on the eastern wall and the bimah is in the center; a women's gallery is accessible by stairs from a separate entrance. The synagogue underwent various stages of development. The current structure contains elements from the baroque reconstruction in 1698, the imperial and neogothic changes in the 1820s and 1840s, and further changes in 1898 and 1935-6.In the eighteenth century, the walls and vaulted interior were decorated with precious baroque frescoes containing ornamental and floral motifs and Hebrew inscriptions. These were later whitewashed.