One of the refurbished shuls
Nine botei knesses in the Camarlati quarter in Izmir which were built by Jews who emigrated from Spain to Turkey, will soon receive tourists in the form of an open museum.
According to a press release, the Jewish communities enjoyed a central role in the multi-cultural identity of the city, and they established splendid synagogues. It is known that the Jewish community built 34 shuls over the years, nine of which are located in the Camarlati quarter.
While some of those synagogues remained open and untouched for three to four centuries, others became unusable due to earthquakes, fires and neglect. In order to improve the situation, the Jewish community of Izmir began working to protect those houses of prayer, preserve and reconstruct, within the framework of Project Restoration of the Jewish Heritage of Izmir. This project is in conjunction with local government bodies and various organizations not affiliated with the government.
The first stage of repairing the synagogues and the streets surrounding it will be completed in the upcoming months and the whole area will be open to tourism. These synagogues have a history of centuries during which many famed Torah sages and tzaddikim prayed and studied Torah here, including the noted Falagi family. These constituted a lodestone for Jewish rabbonim and leaders over periods of Jewish history.
