Europe to open doors on Jewish historical sites Aug. 29

ROME -- An unused, 18th-century synagogue in the northern Italian town of Cherasco whose elegant canopied bimah features gilded carving, painted decoration and slim spiral columns.

A 13th-century mikvah in the heart of Strasbourg, France, and a former synagogue in nearby Pfaffenhoffen that dates back 200 years.

One-time synagogues in the Spanish towns of Girona, Cordoba and Toledo that predate the 1492 expulsion of Jews from Spain by centuries.

These are but a few of the dozens of European sites that will be opened to the public Sunday, Aug. 29 in the first international "Open Day of Jewish Heritage." The event will feature sites in Italy, France, Switzerland, Spain and Germany.

Some of the sites, including synagogues and former synagogues as well as ghetto areas, can already be visited on a regular basis. But most are unused, closed to the public or open only occasionally for religious functions.

"The open day will be the first time that such Jewish monuments will be exhibited together, at the same time, on a coordinated, international basis," said Annie Sacerdoti, a Milan, Italy-based editor and writer who was one of the project's initiators.

"Time constraints made the event this year fairly small," said Sacerdoti, who has edited a series of Jewish guidebooks to Italy. "But next year we hope to involve many more places across Europe as a means of stressing the artistic and historical importance of Jewish heritage sites."

Jewish heritage activists and experts drew up plans for the event during a workshop that took place at the end of May in Nice, France, within the framework of the General Assembly of the European Council of Jewish Communities.

The inspiration stems directly from annual "Open Days of Jewish Heritage" held since 1996 in the Alsace region of France, where they are sponsored by the Alsatian Tourist Board and the local chapter of B'nai B'rith.

Thousands of visitors have attended these events, which are part of a drive to create a tourist niche out of the rich Jewish heritage in Alsace. Jews in the region bordering Germany lived mainly in small rural communities, and scores of synagogues, most of them out of use, and Jewish cemeteries still stand in tiny villages.

This year's "Open Day" will include free admittance to synagogues, cemeteries and other Jewish sites in some 29 towns and villages in Alsace, plus tied-in concerts, guided walking tours, lectures and exhibitions in some places.

In addition, more than a dozen sites will be open in Paris, Provence and other parts of France.

Half a dozen or more sites will be open in towns in Germany and Switzerland near the border with Alsace. Open monuments in Italy include a cluster of ornate synagogues in the Piedmont region, as well as synagogues in Rome, Siena, Venice and Florence. About a dozen monuments will be open in Spanish towns.

The events in Alsace and elsewhere in Europe are the result of a growing awareness of the importance of Jewish monuments and of Jewish cultural heritage.

For decades after World War II there was little interest -- among Jews and non-Jews alike -- in preserving or documenting Jewish sites that had survived both the destruction of the Holocaust and demographic shifts of Jewish populations.

The European Council recently launched a program aimed at developing strategies for the conservation and protection or Europe's Jewish monuments, which include thousands of abandoned cemeteries and neglected or ruined synagogues.

Information on the Open Day of Jewish Heritage can be found on the Web at http://www.sdv.fr/judaisme