Bulgaria to Revive Vidin’s Abandoned Synagogue

The late 19th-century synagogue in the northwestern Bulgarian town of Vidin will be brought back to life with a cash injection of around 5 million euros from a combination of EU financial instruments, Bulgarian Regional Development Ministry announced on Thursday.

The Jewish temple, which is the second largest in the country after the synagogue in Sofia, will be turned into a cultural centre named after Julius Pascin, a Vidin-born expressionist artist of Jewish origin who resettled in the US.

The building's repairs will be funded with around 4.1 million euros from the EU's "Regions in Growth" programme, as well as a 750,000-euro loan from the fund of funds initiative, the body that manages all of the financial instruments co-financed by the European Structural and Investment Funds during the 2014-2020 period.

The Vidin synagogue was originally constructed using donations from thousands of Jews from across Bulgaria.

It was erected to replace the old Jewish temple in the town, which was destroyed during the Russo-Ottoman war of 1877-1878.

The synagogue lost its religious building status in the 1950s, after most of the then 1,200-strong Jewish population of Vidin left the country to settle in the newfound state of Israel.

The temple was turned into a warehouse for several decades, until a serious refurbishment was launched in the 1980s, aiming to turn the building into a symphony hall.

Unfortunately, it was exactly when the synagogue's roof was getting a makeover that the 1989 regime change took place, putting the repairs into disarray. The building was then abandoned and left in a state of disrepair for decades.

It is hoped that the restoration of the synagogue will contribute to the revival of Vidin, drawing tourists...

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