An exhibition on Jewish heritage in and around Gorizia, in northeastern Italy, has opened in the former Ceremonial Hall of the Jewish cemetery in Rožna Dolina, just over the border outside Nova Gorica, Slovenia.
The historic Jewish heritage sites of Gorizia comprise a relatively rare example of local Jewish sites separated by an international border: the 18th century synagogue and former Jewish ghetto area are in Italy …. and the Jewish cemetery is in Slovenia. Both Italy and Slovenia are in the Schengen area of the EU, and the border is pretty much invisible.
Curated by Boris Hajdinjak, director of the Jewish cultural center in the former medieval synagogue in Maribor, Slovenia, and historian Renato Podbersič, the exhibition is an expansion of an exhibit already shown in Maribor and will run through 2025. It forms part of the programming organised by Gorizia and Nova Gorica as a joint European Cultural Capital for 2025.
The exhibit consists of 11 panels that present “a brief history of the Jews and the Jewish community of Gorizia, their involvement in the cultural and economic development of the city, the persecution and destruction of the community during the Holocaust, the attempt to rebuild it after World War II, and the annexation to the Jewish community of Trieste in 1969.”
One panel is devoted to the Jewish cemetery, which was founded in the 14th century and includes around 900 graves.
“The Jews in Gorizia are mentioned for the first time in a document from 1288 which deals with a real estate activity approved by the counts of Gorizia who also affixed their seal,” Hajdinjak told local TV.
Today, there is no Jewish congregation in the area. The synagogue is owned by the Gorizia municipality, and the cemetery by the Nova Gorica municipality. The synagogue hosts a Jewish museum, and the cemetery is currently undergoing a transborder restoration project spearheaded by the Foundation for Jewish Cultural Heritage in Italy.
The ceremonial hall was originally built in 1928. It is a simple building with a peaked roof and a small attached structure to one side. It was in ruinous condition after World War II, and the then-existing Gorizia Jewish community gave the building to the municipality of Nova Gorica in 1977 in return for guarantees that the municipality would maintain it.
It was reconstructed in the 1980s — but was used as a cafe and then a gambling casino.
After the exhibition closes at the end of 2025, organizers hope to travel it to other towns.
Click here to see a video report about the exhibition on local Italian TV