The synagogue - the spiritual center of the community

By the time of the restoration of the Bulgarian state in 1878, the Jewish communities in Pazardzhik, Dupnitsa, Shumen, Kyustendil and Samokov had built beautiful houses of prayer. Between 1887-1930, the Jewish communities in Plovdiv, Dobrich, Varna, Vidin, Yambol, Burgas, Sofia, Silistra and Gotse Delchev (Nevrokop) also built wonderful synagogues. Today the synagogues in most of these towns no longer exist 

“This is the Lord’s door and only the righteous shall enter through it. Regard the new building as the Beit-Hamikdash. This is the synagogue in which people will be blessed in the name of the Lord …” Inscription from the entrance to the synagogue in Samokov. 

The exhibition presents decorative frescoes from the wall paintings in the synagogue from the collection of the Regional Historical Museum - Kyustendil.

The synagogue was built in 1883 on the site of an older synagogue.

“The dome and the holy cabinet were painted by the skillful hand of Moshe Shemuel Tajer; he used only a ruler, scissors and a rug to do such work."

Avram Tajer, ‘Historical Notes on Jewry in Bulgaria...’

 The walls of the synagogue in Kyustendil were painted with stylised plant friezes and six-pointed stars, with the stars encircling the room, and the plant frieze located on the vaulted arch and dome. The interior decoration was supplemented with carved medallions on the ceiling, and their characteristic feature is their colouring. The medallions are in the shape of suns, in the center of which are depicted floral motifs.

 The inscription on a tombstone from 1852 in the courtyard of the synagogue and school testifies that "The learned rabbi, Sage Hezekiah Ben Yosef Beraha" was buried there. According to various sources, the first synagogue in Kyustendil was a wooden building built in the 16th century, and among the famous rabbis who served in Kyustendil were:

Yaakov b. Maim (1687-1730)

Mordechai Comfort, author of Kol Shmuel, Thessalonica, 1787;

Samuel Havron;

Hezekiah Ben Yosef Beraha;

Moshe Shemuel Tajer - 1873

Abraham Reitan

 The Central Sofia Synagogue. Drawing by Haralampi Tachev. State Agency Archives

Haralamri Tachev was a student and assistant of Boris Schatz, the first professor of sculpture at the State Painting School in Sofia.

 "I can recommend our student Tachev, who works masterfully, but you will have to pay him, because he is not a clerk and lives from his art."

From a letter by Boris Schatz to a friend, 8 Oct 1901

 Haralamri Tachev worked productively for many years, his most famous work being the coat of arms of Sofia. He was also often sought out for synagogue decoration projects. His numerous sketches show a constant interest in the distinctive features of these temples and the pictorial tradition in Jewish culture.