Dubrovnik Synagogue, Dubrovnik, Croatia

The Old Synagogue in Dubrovnik is the oldest Sefardic synagogue still in use today in the world and the second oldest synagogue in Europe. It is said to have been established in 1352, but gained legal status in the city in 1408. Owned by the local Jewish community, the main floor still functions as a place of worship for Holy days and special occasions, but is now mainly a city museum which hosts numerous Jewish ritual items and centuries-old artifacts.

Located in one of the many tiny streets of the Old Town of Dubrovnik, it is connected to a neighboring building which has long been owned by the Tolentino family, who have been caretakers of the synagogue for centuries. The internal layout is different from other European synagogues and has gone numerous refurbishments throughout the centuries, and has a mixture of designs from different eras. The building has sustained damage several times, with the great earthquake in 1667, World War II, and the Croatian War of Independence in the 1990s. The damage has since been repaired as closely as possible to its original design.

References:

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Religious sites in Croatia

User Reviews

Ivo Topencharov (12 months ago)
Great view to the city from the entrance of the place. Gorgeous paintings.

Paul Pavlovic (12 months ago)
Not sure who am I to grade places of worship but if you ask me it’s a beautiful peaceful reflecting place, peace !!!

Gyorgy Valyi (13 months ago)
Very small but beautiful baroque synagogue in an amazing town of Dubrovnik. The local Jewish community used to number less than two dozen members, all murdered by the nazis in Holocaust. Remember! #synagogue

Lukas Goldschmidt (13 months ago)
Great exhibition, very friendly and helpful staff, tons of information and of course a synagogue with an unspeakable vibration...

Brady Santoro (2 years ago)
Beautiful old synagogue, a testament to the Jews of Dubrovnik. There is a museum as well in it, about the Jews of Dubrovnik, with many important documents and records. The sanctuary itself is very plain, with a lovely carved bimah, in an interesting pseudo-Sephardi fashion. There is an entrance fee, but it goes to support the dwindling Jewish community in Dubrovnik.

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The Kalozha church of Saints Boris and Gleb is the oldest extant structure in Hrodna. It is the only surviving monument of ancient Black Ruthenian architecture, distinguished from other Orthodox churches by prolific use of polychrome faceted stones of blue, green or red tint which could be arranged to form crosses or other figures on the wall.

The church is a cross-domed building supported by six circular pillars. The outside is articulated with projecting pilasters, which have rounded corners, as does the building itself. The ante-nave contains the choir loft, accessed by a narrow gradatory in the western wall. Two other stairs were discovered in the walls of the side apses; their purpose is not clear. The floor is lined with ceramic tiles forming decorative patterns. The interior was lined with innumerable built-in pitchers, which usually serve in Eastern Orthodox churches as resonators but in this case were scored to produce decorative effects. For this reason, the central nave has never been painted.

The church was built before 1183 and survived intact, depicted in the 1840s by Michał Kulesza, until 1853, when the south wall collapsed, due to its perilous location on the high bank of the Neman. During restoration works, some fragments of 12th-century frescoes were discovered in the apses. Remains of four other churches in the same style, decorated with pitchers and coloured stones instead of frescoes, were discovered in Hrodna and Vaŭkavysk. They all date back to the turn of the 13th century, as do remains of the first stone palace in the Old Hrodna Castle.

In 2004, the church was included in the Tentative List of UNESCO"s World Heritage Sites.

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Dubrovnik Synagogue

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