The restoration of the long-ruined Ashkenazi Great Synagogue in the Black Sea port of Constanta has been completed, and the building will formally reopen in May, both for religious use and as a cultural venue.
Though a few scaffolds are still up inside, the restored building was presented to the media this past week by Silviu Vexler, an MP and president of the Federation of Jewish Communities (FEDROM), and Minister of Development, Public Works and Administration Attila-Zoltán Cseke.
“What was just a dream and a promise that seemed impossible has become a reality today,” Vexler said in a Facebook post.
This TV report is in Romanian, but the pictures tell the story:
Designed in the Moorish style by Adolf Linz and built between 1910 and 1914, the synagogue was used as a German military warehouse during WW2. It is the one surviving synagogue in the city — the grand Sephardic synagogue was demolished in the 1980s.
After years of false starts and dashed hopes, Vexler signed a contract to start restoration work in June 2023, and work finally began in 2024. It was financed by the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration through the National Investment Company, with an estimated cost of approximately €2 million
(We posted about the first steps aimed at restoration back in 2014 — click HERE.)