Sinagoga di Gorizia

The eighteenth-century synagogue in Gorizia's former ghetto preserves its Ashkenazi temple furnishings and now houses a museum about the city's Jewish community. The small temple includes an elliptical wooden women's gallery and a black-marble ark set on twisted columns.

Why it matters

Jewish presence in Gorizia is documented from the thirteenth century. A provisional oratory served the community after the establishment of the enclosed ghetto in 1698; the synagogue that stands today was built in 1756. The Jewish quarter became known as the “little Jerusalem on the Isonzo,” reflecting the community's place in the city's commercial and cultural life, including its role in the silk trade.

What to notice

The façade received its present appearance in an 1894 remodelling by engineer Emilio Luzzatto, with arched entrances, a rose window bearing the Star of David, blind arches and the Tablets of the Law. An eighteenth-century wrought-iron gate from the former ghetto stands nearby. The temple's upper hall contains an elliptical wooden matroneo, a black-and-white marble floor and the Aròn Hacodésc on four twisted black-marble columns. A room displays paintings by Carlo Michelstaedter, who grew up in Gorizia's Jewish community.

Context and history

The synagogue was damaged during the First World War and reopened for worship in 1920. Gorizia's Jews were deported to Auschwitz under Nazi occupation on 23 November 1943. Worship ended in 1969, when the community was absorbed into that of Trieste. The building passed to the municipality in 1978, was restored and reopened as a cultural space in 1984, and has housed a museum dedicated to the community since 1998. A plaque commemorates the deportees, and a nearby garden remembers Bruno Faber, a newborn deported to Auschwitz.