Mazel tov — projects to restore the synagogues in Thann and Metz, both in eastern France, have received new funding via the Heritage Foundation – Fondation du Patrimoine, which at the same time has announced the launch of a new program directed specifically at the preservation of Jewish heritage in France.
Launched at the end of June, the Foundation’s new Jewish Heritage Program was established with the support of the Edmond J. Safra Foundation. Le Figaro newspaper said that the Safra Foundation had contributed €5 million to the program.
“Attested as early as the 1st century, the presence of the Jewish community in France manifests itself through various heritage buildings constituting Jewish memory,” the Foundation states as the reason behind the new program.
The launch of the Jewish Heritage Program, with the support of the Edmond J. Safra Foundation, is an opportunity for the Heritage Foundation to participate in the preservation of sites witnessing this millennial presence, paying particular attention to sites or objects remarkable in the memory of the Jewish community of France.
The synagogue in Metz is the first awardee under this program, receiving a grant of €150,000.
Listed as a historic monument since 1984, it was built in 1848-1850 to replace an earlier synagogue and is an elegant building with a facade marked by tall arches. The interior is noted for the organ, the coffered wooden ceiling, and wooden fittings on the arched, two-floor women’s galleries. Owned and used by the Jewish community, it has been undergoing a full restoration, inside and out, which started in 2023 and was initiated by the Metz Jewish community and the Moselle Jewish Consistory:
The facade will be restored due to the worsening of the alterations of the Jaumont stone, some of which have become detached. The stone steps, which have undergone unsealing movements, will be rehabilitated. The doors to Rabbi Elie Bloch Street will be painted.
Inside, the Jaumont stone of the pillars will again be apparent thanks to the stripping of the various layers of paint. The cracks will be treated. The flooring, interior decorations, ceilings, bays and stained glass windows will be restored, so as to recover the original colors.
The new grant will allow completion of the work, with an inauguration date set for October 25, 2025.
“With a community of 1,500 people, it is not easy to find funding, even if the state and the communities are behind us,” Le Figaro quoted Alain Aisene, Vice-President of the Israelite Consistory of the Moselle, as saying. After having had to mobilise EUR 2.3 million for the facade or the steps, this patronage is going to be a turning point for us. ”
Click for the Foundation’s photo collection of the synagogue
Watch a video (in French) that shows work going on last year:
Meanwhile, the ambitious project to restore the synagogue in Thann and create there a library and collection of Yiddish books and films is one of the 11 winners of the Heritage Foundation’s 2025 Sesame Prize, awarded to projects regarding religious heritage. The synagogue will receive €20,000.
Established in 2022, the Sesame Prize rewards activities and initiatives implemented within religious buildings, whether or not they are used for worship. The synagogue in Benfeld was awarded the prize last year.
The synagogue in Thann, in Alsace, was originally built in 1862 and then rebuilt in elaborate new-Byzantine style after it was severely damaged during World War One. It has been undergoing restoration since 2018, with work already completed on the roof, cupolas, stained glass, and the mikvah that was discovered in its courtyard in 2014.
The Sesame Prize grant is targeted for the restoration of a dilapidated room on an upper floor, originally meant to be an office, and its conversion into the library and education center:
Highly degraded, this room requires extensive plaster work consisting in the laying of a new ceiling with identical reproduction of the moldings and the repair of the walls, followed by a complete repainting. The floor will also be renovated and the electrical installation will be upgraded to standard. Finally, the stained glass windows will be restored and the parts will be restored and the parts recreated.
The library, the prize states, will be equipped with a computer, a projector and enriched with a collection of books and
Yiddish cassettes from the Astrid Starck academic collection. It will be open to the public and to researchers, including genealogists. The synagogue also is to be the starting point for a Kosher Wine Route called Hebraica, whose plan were announced in 2018.
Work is due to be completed by September, in time for the European Days of Jewish Heritage.
See the Jewish Heritage Program web page on the Heritage Foundation web site