City authorities here are carrying out the restoration of the only remaining synagogue in the newly independent country of Slovenia.
But they have had to slow the project for lack of funds.
The Gothic synagogue dates back hundreds of years and stands on a street still called Jewish Street, amid traces of the city’s medieval Jewish ghetto. Nearby is a fortified structure known as the Jewish Tower, built in 1465.
“We want to restore the synagogue for use as a cultural center, but need to raise more money to complete the work,” said Janez Mikuz, director of the Institute for the Protection of Natural and Cultural Heritage in Maribor.
A report by the institute said at least $500,000 was needed to complete the project.
Maribor is the second largest city in Slovenia, a former Yugoslav republic whose declaration of independence in 1991 was one of the triggers of the violent breakup of Yugoslavia.
An ancient city on the Drava Rover near the border with Austria, Maribor was he stronghold of Slovenia’s medieval Jewish community.
The first mention of a Jewish community in the city dates to the 13th century, but the original Jewish settlement was probably older.
Maribor’s medieval Jewish community was prosperous, and its 15th century Rabbi Petahya Isserlein held the title of chief rabbi of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola from 1427 to 1435.
Jews were expelled from Maribor in 1496 by the Hapsburg Emperor Maximilian, and all Jews were expelled from Slovenia by the early 18th century.
Few Jews returned to live in Slovenia. Only a handful of Jews live among Maribor’s 100,000 residents today.
The synagogue is situated on an elevated terrace above the Drava. It is connected to the so-called Jewish Tower by the town’s fortified walls.
After the Jews were expelled from Maribor, the synagogue was converted into a church in 1501. In the early 19th century, it was used as a warehouse. It is a small, squarish stone building with a high-peaked roof, narrow gothic windows and heavy buttresses.
Plans for restoration and archaeological excavations at the synagogue got under way in 1992. Excavations largely carried out last year established that construction may have taken place as early as 1200.
If so, this would make the synagogue one of the earliest synagogue buildings – – if not the earliest — still standing in Europe.
Excavations found traced of a Jewish cemetery near the synagogue, as well as stairs below the structure leading down to the Drava River, where there was a ritual bath.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
