Sarajevo Synagogue

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Ashkenazi Synagogue is the only functioning synagogue in Sarajevo today. Constructed in 1902 on the south bank of the river Miljacka after the design of Karl Pařik, its highly decorated neo-Moorish style was a popular choice for synagogues in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The devastation wreaked by the Holocaust and the recent civil war has left fewer than 5700 Jews in the former Yugoslavia. The Jewish community, like the entire country, was once defined by its unique combination of eastern and western traditions. Populations of Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews peacefully co-existed with their Christian and Muslim neighbors in cities like Sarajevo.

One can still imagine the grandeur of the original synagogue with its high, ornate ceiling, highlighted by a ten-pointed star, its enormous arches and richly-painted decorations, and its women's galleries supported by columns. Today the synagogue is in the women's galleries on the upper floor. At the entrance, a stone menorah commemorates the 400-year anniversary of the Jews in Bosnia and Herzegovina.