(JHE) — Following on from our post last year, we are informed that a new Ark and Bimah and other interior furnishings have been installed in the synagogue on the island of Kos, and — after decades out of its original use — the building will be rededicated in May as an active house of Jewish worship.
“Given that there was no evidence of the pre-WWII state of the synagogue, the design is based on historic examples in Italy and also on the reuse of older furniture in order to raise their sanctity and to address the principles of circular economy,” the architect Elias Messinas, who oversaw the project, told JHE in an email. (Kos was under Italian rule from 1912 to 1943, during which time the synagogue was built.).
Messinas is the leading expert on Greek synagogues and has been involved in the survey, study, and restoration of synagogues in Greece for decades.
“The furniture modification was assigned to MANOS-TSIAOUSI in Serres, Greece, and the implementation was coordinated by Dimitris Geroukalis Director of Civil Company Ippokratis, who is responsible for the upkeep of the historic synagogue,” he said.
The Kos synagogue was built in the mid-1930s to replace an older synagogue that was destroyed in an earthquake in April 1933. It was abandoned after the near-total destruction of the circa 120 member Jewish community during the Holocaust, and then was purchased by the Municipality around 1984 and used as a local cultural centre.
Last year, as we noted in our original post, the local municipality and the Greek Central Board of Jewish Communities decided to bring the synagogue back to its original use, to serve the growing number of Israeli and other tourists.
Messinas said it will be used as a synagogue mainly in the summer months, but will also still serve as a local cultural center that will operate most of the year.
See our March 2022 post about the synagogue plans