Great Synagogue In Tunis
Great Synagogue of Tunis ( ) is the main synagogue in Tunis , the capital of Tunisia.
It is located at No. 36 Liberty Avenue in downtown Tunis, in the district of La Fayette, not far from the station underground "Republic" and Habib Thamer garden built on the site of the former Jewish cemetery.
Summary |
The initiative for its construction, to replace the synagogue of the Jewish Quarter of the Hara, returns to Baron Giacomo Di Castelnuovo. This physician, explorer and diplomat from the community of Granas wanted to build a temple common to Granas Twnsa and the two branches of Judaism Tunisia .
In the 1870s , he claims to Sadok Bey land that is available in 1883 . However, the current location is the result of a donation from Daniel Iffla said Osiris, the latter indeed wants to construct a building by its architect on land provided by the community, which must support the procedures and administrative authorizations . At his death in 1907 , Osiris left his fortune to the Pasteur Institute of Tunis , forced by his will to acquire the land offered in Garibaldi Square, however, reveals that unhealthy . Resold, it is replaced by a field number 100 Avenue de Paris, now the Avenue of Freedom.
A first draft of the Roman-Byzantine style is presented on 31 March 1909 but the high cost and lack of enthusiasm condemns this project and is quickly replaced by a new version after a competition in 1911 : the jury holds unanimously that of a young architect, Victor Valensi , combining oriental forms and structures and materials such as concrete .
Getting work in June 1933 , it opened in December 1938 . During the occupation of Tunisia by the forces of the Axis , from November 1942 to March 1943 , the building is invested by German soldiers came to arrest the leaders of the community . In 1967 , in the context of the Six Day War , it was ransacked by rioters . Restored in 1996 then in 2007 , following the intervention of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali , he is guarded by local police and is sometimes open to visitors although the celebrations are rare .
Tributes
In 1971 , the Israeli Post issues a stamp bearing the image of the synagogue, but because of the Tetragrammaton YHWH appearing on the pediment of the building, the rabbinate receives its withdrawal in condemning its use layman . The construction of a replica of the synagogue was also considered to Netanya in Israel .
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