(JHE) — Renovation of the former synagogue in Koprivnica, Croatia, will be completed thanks to a new €2 million grant from the EU, via Croatia’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Mayor Mišel Jakšić signed the contract for it on December 21.
As we posted in 2022, gradual renovation has been going on for around 15 years on the synagogue, which was built in the mid-1870s to a neo-Moorish design by architects Julius Deutsch and Slavko Lowy. During World War II it was used as a prison and later as a warehouse and industrial site. In 1996 a plaque was put up to honor Holocaust victims.
In 2019 rehabilitation of the ground floor took place, including removal of the old brick floor, waterproofing, and installing new wooden flooring; and further structural work was carried out this past year thanks to a grant in 2022.
The synagogue was officially inaugurated in November 2019 as the Krešimir Švarc Cultural Center, and events are already held there.
“I can say that these €2 million are the final step and move so that [the building] gets its ultimate form and shines in its ultimate beauty and brilliance,” Mayor Jakšić told local media drive.info.
He said the deadline for completion of the work was two years after the signing of the contract.
“However […] we hope and wish to do most of the work next year, although we no longer dare to bet on such things considering that we all see the state of the construction operative market with labor force and material procurement, and that many times some absolutely unexpected circumstances can happen.”
See our post about the renovation process from November 2022