The Scolanova Synagogue (English: ''New Synagogue'') is a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

congregation and

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

, located at Via Sinagoga 47, in the town of

Trani Trani () is a seaport of Apulia, Southern Italy, on the Adriatic Sea, by railway west-northwest of Bari. It is one of the capital cities of the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani (BAT). History Overview The city of ''Turenum'' appears for the ...

Puglia Apulia ( ), also known by its Italian language, Italian name Puglia (), is a Regions of Italy, region of Italy, located in the Southern Italy, southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Strait of Ot ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Built by the Italian–Jewish community of Apulia during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, the building was acquired by the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Church in 1380 during a wave of

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

and served as St. Maria's Church () until it was deconsecrated and returned to the Jewish community in 2006. The building has been restored for use as a synagogue.

History

By 1541 all of the four synagogues in Trani had been converted to

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

es and the 310 Jews remaining in the city forcibly converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

. The four confiscated synagogues were renamed Santa Maria in Scolanova, San Leonardo Abate, San Pietro Martire, and Santi Quirico e Giovita (renamed as St. Anne's Church ()), which was once the Scolagrande Synagogue and restored as a synagogue from 2004. San Pietro was later demolished. A plaque is visible on the northern wall of the Scolagrande Synagogue that explains that the building was built on the site of a demolished synagogue in 1247. San Leonardo has undergone such extensive renovation that little of the synagogue building survives. In 2006 the Scolanova Synagogue, which had been standing as an empty and disused church since the 1950s, was de-consecrated and returned to the Jewish community. The individuals principally responsible for the reconsecration of the synagogue were Professor and Francesco Lotoro, descendants of Italian

Anusim Anusim (, ; singular male, anús, ; singular female, anusá, , meaning "coerced") is a legal category of Jews in '' halakha'' (Jewish law) who were forced to abandon Judaism against their will, typically while forcibly converted to another re ...

. Professor Lotoro is a pianist and conductor, who had studied the music of the Nazi concentration camps. The community now includes descendants of Neofiti (Italian

crypto-Jews Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; practitioners are referred to as "crypto-Jews" (origin from Greek ''kryptos'' – , 'hidden'). The term is especially applied historically to Spani ...

) and San Nicandro Jews. A very old oil painting of St. Mary hangs in the niche that once held the

Torah ark A Torah ark (also known as the ''hekhal'', , or ''aron qodesh'', ) is an ornamental chamber in the synagogue that houses the Torah scrolls. History The ark is also known as the ''ark of law'', or in Hebrew the ''Aron Kodesh'' () or ''aron ha-Kod ...

. The Church has refused to allow the painting to be moved to another church or to a museum. Moreover, the building is a protected historic site, so the Jewish congregation is not allowed to move the painting. The solution has been to hang a large image of a menorah in front of the painting.

Architecture

The synagogue was converted for use as a church without significant alterations being made to the interior of the building. The Gothic synagogue is a rectangular, masonry building, . The barrel-vaulted ceiling is high. There are three windows in the eastern wall, one on each side of the

, and one above it. The cut-stone surround for the Torah ark exists. The ark was once reached by a flight of seven steps. It featured a central column that divided two separate arched openings. The building next door once contained the synagogue's women's gallery and, in the basement, the stairs and pool of the medieval ''

mikveh A mikveh or mikvah (, ''mikva'ot'', ''mikvot'', or (Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazic) ''mikves'', lit., "a collection") is a bath used for ritual washing in Judaism#Full-body immersion, ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve Tumah and taharah, ...

'' survive.

References

External links

*http://www.jewishitaly.org/detail.asp?ID=254 *https://www.flickr.com/groups/synagogues/discuss/72157594418164779/ *https://web.archive.org/web/20130828181737/http://charlesborlam.com/synagogue_in_trani.htm {{Synagogues in Italy 13th-century synagogues in Italy Buildings and structures in Trani Churches converted from synagogues Gothic architecture in Apulia Italki Jews topics Medieval synagogues Romanesque and Gothic synagogues Synagogues in Trani

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links