The first steps have been taken toward the possible restoration of the ruined Ashkenazic Great Synagogue in the Black Sea port city of Constanța, Rpmania.
A team of architects visited the site this week to assess the condition of the devastated building, and their findings will determine what comes next.
Sorin Lucian Ionescu, president of the Jewish Community of Constanța, told the Romanian TV news site Reporter NTV that the report from the experts “will tell us exactly what they can do and just how much it could cost.”
Reporter NTV said that once the synagogue is restored, it will form part of a tourist itinerary along with other heritage buildings by the sea.
The synagogue was designed in the Moorish style by Adolf Linz and built between 1910 and 1914. In a detailed architectural article, “The Architectural Heritage of the Jews in Constanța,” Nicoleta Doina Teodorescu and Corina Lucescu write that less than 20 years ago, the synagogue was in decent shape and used by the small local Jewish community.
Last year, the Romanian news site Info Sud-Est sharply criticized local officials and popular opinion for having allowed the building to crumble to the point of collapse.
See the Reporter NTV report, with a video of the synagogue
See the JHE photo gallery of the synagogue, by Dejan Petrovic