The Netherlands government and the Amsterdam municipality will contribute 90 percent of the 15 million Guilders cost of restoring the 300-year-old former Great Synagogue of Amsterdam which will become a Jewish historical museum.
The synagogue in Janas Daniel Meyer Square, was dedicated in 1670 and served as the main Ashkenazic synagogue in Amsterdam. It was closed in 1943 by which time most of Amsterdam’s Jews had been deported by the Nazis. It did not reopen.
The building has been designated an histories landmark and since it is of a quasi-religious character, the Dutch Ministry for Culture and Social Affairs has agreed to contribute toward its restoration. The Amsterdam municipality owns the building. It will contain the museum presently housed in the Woag building which has become inadequate for that purpose.
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