Spanish Synagogue (Venice)

Last updated

Spanish Synagogue
Italian: Scola Ponentina; or
Italian: Sinagoga Scuola Spagnola
Scola spagnola (Venice).jpg
The synagogue façade, from the square of the Ghetto Nuovo, in 2015
Religion
Affiliation Orthodox Judaism
Rite
Ecclesiastical or organisational status Synagogue
StatusActive
Location
Location Jewish Ghetto, Venice
Country Italy
Venezia location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location of the synagogue in Venice
Geographic coordinates 45°26′41″N12°19′32″E / 45.4448°N 12.3256°E / 45.4448; 12.3256
Architecture
Architect(s) Baldassare Longhena
Type Synagogue architecture
Style Baroque
Date established1555 (as a congregation)
Completed1580
Materials Stone
[1]

The Spanish Synagogue (Italian : Scola Ponentina; or Italian : Sinagoga Scuola Spagnola) is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, that is located in the Jewish Ghetto of Venice, Italy. Designed by Baldassare Longhena in the Baroque style, the synagogue was completed in 1580, and it is one of five synagogues that were established in the ghetto. [2] [3]

Contents

The synagogue is open for services from Passover until the end of the High Holiday season.

History

The Spanish Synagogue was founded by Jews expelled from the Iberian Peninsula in the 1490s who reached Venice, usually via Amsterdam, Livorno or Ferrara, in the 1550s. The four-story yellow stone building was constructed in 1580 and was restored in 1635. It is a clandestine synagogue, which was tolerated on the condition that it be concealed within a building that gives no appearance being a house of worship form the exterior, although the interior is elaborately decorated. [4]

The synagogue's ornate interior contains three large chandeliers and a dozen smaller ones, as well as a huge sculpted wooden ceiling.

See also

References

  1. "Scuola Grande Spagnola in Venice". Historic Synagogues of Europe. Foundation for Jewish Heritage and the Center for Jewish Art at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. n.d. Retrieved August 19, 2024.
  2. Davis, Robert C.; Ravid, Benjamin, eds. (2001). The Jews of Early Modern Venice. Baltimore–London: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 43. ISBN   0-8018-6512-3.
  3. Tigay, Alan M., ed. (1994). The Jewish Traveler: Hadassah Magazine's Guide to the World's Jewish Communities and Sights. Northvale, N.J.–Jerusalem: Jason Aronson. p. 542. ISBN   978-1-56821-078-0.
  4. Kaplan, Benjamin J., Religious Conflict and the Practice of Toleration in Early Modern Europe, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2007, Chapter 8, pp. 194. ff.