The Izmir Project has launched an appeal to raise $80,000 in matching funds to guarantee a municipal grant to restore the historic but sadly derelict Etz Hayim Synagogue. Believed to be the oldest synagogue in Izmir, it possibly dates back to the 14th or 15th century, though later rebuilt, with its current appearance from the mid-19th century.
The İzmir Development Agency recently confirmed a grant to the Izmir Jewish community of 1,400,000 TL (230,000$) towards the restoration and preservation of the synagogue, part of a complex of half a dozen historic synagogues at the core of Izmir’s Jewish quarter that the Izmir Project is working to preserve.
The grant — which falls under the Agency’s Program for Preservation of Cultural Assets and Financial Support for their Revival — is contingent on $80,000 in matching funds be provided from other sources.
“This grant together with its matching fund covers the necessary immediate costs for saving & preserving the Synagogue, preventing its deterioration and the risk of collapse. Additional funds are necessary for its integration in the future [Jewish] museum of Izmir,” said Nesim Bencoya of the Izmir Project.
In a statement, Bencoya said that:
The synagogue suffered over the years from natural disasters and went through many changes. Today the physical condition of the synagogue is currently in high level of risk of collapse and requires strict preservation.The synagogue’s building needs urgent stabilization to avoid its collapse. Izmir municipality and the Turkish committee for the preservation of historic buildings both issued in 2016 a permit for restoration and conservation for this synagogue. This enables to work immediately on its rescue and restoration. Due to its deteriorating condition, emergency salvation works have been started in order to avoid further weakening of the building. An architectural survey of this building was done on 2017 as well as professional revealing of its murals and old wall-painting.
Architecturally, according to the Izmir Project:
The prayer hall is one floor up and the entrance to it, is through a hallway that was used as a small religious school. The center of the hall is dominated by four original pillars that in the past surrounded the Tevah and reached the ceiling in an impressive structure. Various holy verses adorn the ceiling of the old Tevah and the synagogue hall. The Holy Ark is surrounded by a beautiful wooden structure to which two additional Tevahs, each on one side, were added at a later period.
The synagogue is one of 19 synagogues targeted as at-risk by the new Foundation for Jewish Heritage.
The World Monuments Fund put the central Izmir synagogues complex on its 2004 Watch List of most endangered heritage sites — at that time, the WMF declared the Etz Hayim synagogue as “abandoned for decades [and] on the verge of collapse.” The synagogue’s floor and roof were stabilized and works to prevent its collapse were carried out in 2014.
For further information contact Nesim Bencoya, at [email protected] or Tel: 0090 532 508 3319