Restoration of the grand Fabric Synagogue in Timişoara and its transformation into a cultural center has moved closer, with the signing last week of a memorandum of understanding agreement between the Timişoara municipality and the World Monuments Fund.
The accord foresee collaboration in working out a restoration plan and a concept for the adaptive reuse of the building as a cultural site.
“The World Monuments Fund will select a specialized firm to analyze the site, develop technical studies and organize workshops and consultations in order to transform the historical monument into a space for culture and community,” the city said on its web site. “All costs for this stage, which makes the transition from safety work to full rehabilitation, will be borne by the WMF.”
Built in 1897-99 and designed by the prolific synagogue architect Lipot Baumhorn, the synagogue has long stood empty and in deteriorating condition.
Listed as a historic monument, it was placed on the World Monuments Fund’s 2022 Watch List of heritage sites at risk. The Timisoara municipality took over the administration of the building from the Jewish community a year ago (October 2023).
“We are very happy to start working with the municipality, because it is a project that started in 2022, when the local Jewish community nominated the Fabric Synagogue for our World Monuments Watch program, the WMF’s Javier Ors Ausín, who signed the accord along with Mayor Dominic Fritz, said on the city’s web site.
After being included in the program, I came here and met with the members of the community, with Luciana Friedmann, the president of the Jewish community in Timișoara, and with the mayor. Now, after many conversations, we can start the project for adaptive reuse. We will define a participatory process so that together with the local authorities, with local experts, with the community that lives in the area and with the Jewish community, we will define a new use for the Synagogue”
For his part, Fritz stated: “For me, this is an important moment, because saving this synagogue does not only have an architectural value, but also relates to the heritage of Timisoara’s values, the preservation of these values and the way we manage to send a signal against anti-Semitism and for multiculturalism.
I can’t wait to enter this new stage in which the entire Timisoara community will use this building in a new cultural function. It will most likely be a multifunctional space, meaning not just a theater or a museum, but a space that can be used for many things. And precisely because this collaboration with the World Monuments Fund exists to establish much more precisely what kind of cultural center we want, as a city and local community.
Cost of the first stage restoration is estimated at around €250,000. The web site said the city had assigned the work to a company called Art History Construct SRL.
Watch a video by Mayor Fritz, from his Facebook page:
Read the statement on the city’s web site
Read our post from August with further details about plans for the synagogue
Read our October 2023 post about the City taking over administration of the building
Read our Have Your Say article about the Fabric Synagogue