Workers carrying out general restoration and maintenance of the grand, domed synagogue in Florence have discovered serious damage to a load-bearing column in the building’s left tower, necessitating urgent repair work.
The Jewish community and the Opera del Tempio Ebraico di Firenze — the body that oversees the repair, maintenance, and restoration of the synagogue and other Jewish heritage in Tuscany — have launched a “Save the Tower” Go Fund Me crowdfunding campaign to help cover the costs.
“During ordinary maintenance work on the facade of the Temple, breakage was found at the base of one of the pillars,” the crowdfunder said. “We need to repair the damage as soon as possible to avoid any further structural problems.”
The crowd-funder aims to raise €20,000 out of the more than €80,000 estimated total cost of the repair. The CR Firenze Foundation and the Opera Laboratori, the operator managing tourism at the synagogue, have already pledged €40,000 and €20,000, respectively.
Designed by Marco Treves, Mariano Falcini, and Vincenzo Micheli and inaugurated in 1882, the Florence synagogue is a richly decorated building in the Moorish-Byzantine style. A city landmark, it boasts a colossal front archway over the entrance flanked by two domed towers and an enormous copper-clad dome – the second largest in the city after that of the Duomo (cathedral).
Watch a video tour of the synagogue:
In addition to serving today’s Jewish community, the synagogue complex houses a Jewish Museum founded in 1981.
Restoration and maintenance work are continuous, with a full-scale restoration completed in 2010, delicate consolidation of the mosaic marble flooring of the sanctuary in 2020, and urgent repairs carried out on the cupola in 2018.
Since it began operating in 1996, the Opera del Tempio has invested about €3 million in repair and maintenance of the building, through public, private, and self-funding.
The current work entails maintenance and repairs on both the exterior and interior of the synagogue: the façade and a lateral wall on the exterior, and repairs to wall decoration inside near the Ark that have been affected by water infiltration.
Work on the façade commenced in December 2021 at a cost of €400,000, partially funded by a state program that provides a credit of 90 percent of the total cost of the restoration of building façades in the historical centers of Italy. The Opera del Tempio covers the remaining 10 percent of the cost.
The work entails the cleaning and consolidation of the stonework, the revival of its color, and the implementation of protective waterproofing treatment. It was during this process that workers identified critical consolidation issues in the column of the left tower.
“It consists of the fracture and consequent outward displacement of one of the pillars and extends to the adjacent column,” the Jewish community said on its web site.
“Without repair the tower is in danger of collapse,” it said. “This would risk the structural integrity of other parts of the building. We urgently need to repair the damage as soon as possible.”
Work on the synagogue is supervised by Renzo Funaro, President of the Opera del Tempio di Firenze.
Funaro told JHE that work on the lateral wall of the synagogue, which cost around €30,000, will be completed by the end of April, with the CR Firenze aFoundation nd the Opera del Tempio equally funding the project.
The restoration and repainting of interior decoration near the Torah Ark will be finished in April, with work continuing in other parts of the synagogue in May.
Click here to access the Go Fund Me
Click here (and scroll to the bottom) to take a virtual tour of the synagogue