Repair work and other initiatives are under way as part of a long-term project to restore the synagogue in Făgăraş, Romania for use as some sort of cultural center.
Workers including architecture student volunteers have been carrying out an operation to replace the roof since early July, organized by the Făgăraș municipality in partnership with two foundations, the Țara Făgăraș Community Foundation and the Monumentum Association,
“We intend to make another partnership with Făgăraș Municipality after the repairs will be completed, through which we will organize cultural activities, such as exhibitions, concerts, galas and so on, ” Cristiana Metea, director of the Țara Făgăraș Community Foundation, told the news site Salut Făgăraş.
Built in the mid-19th century, the synagogue stood abandoned for years until 2017, when the city obtained a loan-use agreement from the Jewish Community in Brasov, which owns it.
It was described in 2007 as follows, in an article in The Forward:
a two-story gray structure surrounded by weeds, its windows all broken, identified only by its Star of David iron grills. Inside, the wood floor and prayer benches have been clumsily torn up. The pulpit has been overtaken by vagrants who have left piles of sodden blankets, trash and ash. The only signs of the building’s earlier life are Arabesque stenciling on the wall, and the wooden cabinet that used to hold the Torah scroll.
Recent workshops and discussions have been held to discuss future plans for the building. One took place in May, and another workshop, on architecture and urbanism, took place for four days in early August.
The August workshop was organized by the Center for Built Environment, Țara Făgăraș Community Foundation, @HomeinFagaras, and the Făgăraș Research Institute, with the support of Făgăraș City Hall. It brought together architects and students from Cluj, Brașov, Bucharest, Constanța, and elsewhere to discuss possibilities for the synagogue’s adaptive reuse.
“It is a workshop in which we think about how the synagogue building can be transformed into a cultural center, which on the one hand brings together cultural initiatives in the area and also brings in Făgăraș cultural events of various types [including] international,” Ștefan Cibian, executive director of the Făgăraș Research Institute, told the news site Făgărașul Tau.
“Following this workshop, we hope to have some ideas about how this synagogue will continue to function, how it will be arranged, what functionality it will have, what events will happen inside,” municipal council member Lucian Mija told the site.
Watch a video (in Romanian) about the volunteers taking part in restoration work and discussions, and ideas for the synagogue’s future, as well as a concert in the synagogue — that participants said was to test the acoustics:
Read the article in Salut Făgăraş