70 Guest appearance: Synagogues Preserved in Jerusalem

-

 As I mentioned before, the blog is about churches because that's what I know,  because there's lots of them about, and because they have a particularly theatrical tradition, more so than most other holy buildings. But today a guest appearance from synagogues. The "Museum of Israel" in Jerusalem bought up and transported four synagogues from different parts of the world, and they make up a whole wing of the museum, entitled "The Synagogue Route". Now, I know next to nothing about synagogues, so cannot comment much. The museum site explains

"The synagogue from Vittorio Veneto, a small town in northern Italy, was built in 1700. Its interior is elegantly decorated in typical Italian Baroque style, reminiscent of a reception room in an aristocrat’s palace. 

The Kadavumbagam synagogue from the town of Cochin in southern India, built in the 16th century is a wooden structure, with an exquisitely carved and painted ceiling directly influenced by the decorations of mosques and Hindu temples.

The wooden synagogue from Horb, southern Germany, was built in the first half of the 18th century. Its walls and the ceiling were completely covered with paintings and inscriptions, thus being one of the rare testimonies of an old tradition of painted Synagogue common in Poland and Germany.

The Tzedek ve-Shalom synagogue from Suriname, northern South America, was built in the 18th century, and it tells the story of the Spanish-Portuguese Jews who came from Europe to the New World. 

The synagogue route is accompanied by a rich display of ritual objects such as Torah mantles and cases, shields and finials, as well as Torah ark curtains, all of them originating from communities around the world; from Morocco to Poland; from Afghanistan to the Netherlands."

As well as photographs of the life size synagogues, there are also a few photographs of scale models of impressive synagogues from around the world.

























































Let's hope that Palestine is free soon, so the visit to these preserved synagogues can be enjoyed in a free country.



Posts les plus consultés de ce blog

50. Montreal, Basilica of Notre Dame. Coolest Gothic revival pulpit

-
Image
  Montreal, Basilica of Notre Dame. Coolest Gothic revival pulpit   The wikipedia article says that the interior of the church is « one of the most dramatic in the world », and dead Gothic. Gets eleven million visitors a year, and last year I was one of them. My favourite ever pulpit. If you’re gonna preach   Good News About Eternal Life, you might as well do it perched on some decent furniture.   The stained glass windows here don’t bother with Bible stories, but depict scenes from the history of Montreal.   The other major highlight is the extra chapel behind the altar  through a corridor, which is has a modern bronze altar piece which is totally stunning. It represents humanity’s journey towards God, passing through childhood, adulthood and old age. In this chapel, the Stations of the Cross are well worth a look.   Information in French Information in English Information in Armenian  
Read more »

72 London - Saint Paul's Cathedral: Cool people commemorated, but bloody Empire heroes too.

-
Image
  Saint Paul’s Cathedral London. I seem to be visiting churches a lot faster than I am finding the time to write them up; I have a real backlog.  Anyway it was great to visit Saint Paul’s cathedral, one of the four cathedrals in London if I remember correctly (two for the protestants two for the catholics - but I am probably missing some orthodox cathedral). It was Christopher Wren who was the architect, and it was built as the first Anglican cathedral on the site - previously they had just recycled Catholic hand-me-downs. His advisors, and the committees, wanted him to be sure to make it not too Catholic. So, no stained glass, and no statues, monuments etc. However, in later centuries, once they got less scared of us Catholics, the statues and monuments came by the dozens - and indeed the 20th century high altar looks like it was looted from the Vatican itself. Lots of people got monuments, mainly heroes of the bloody British Empire, like Wellington. He has the biggest monume...
Read more »

86 Paris, Montmartre, The Basilica of the Sacred Heart. The Gospel is sport!

-
Image
 86 Paris, Montmartre, The Basilica of the Sacred Heart This tremendously famous church, which towers over Montmartre in Paris, is more directly political than most. It is often said to have been built as revenge against the Paris Commune, an insurrection during which the workers controlled Paris for a couple of months and showed the wonderful possibilities of workers’ power before being massacred by the authorities. This is not 100% true, in that the plans to build this church were decided before the Paris Commune. Nevertheless, the right wingers of the time certainly presented the church, and the worship of the sacrament in it as penance for the terrible sin of workers’ insurrection. As a result the church is cordially detested by many left wing activists in France (even more than the significant minority of left activists here who cordially detest any religious building). Shortly after the building of the church, it was the site of the National Vow, which again was a very co...
Read more »