Bet Mordechai Synagogue, La Goulette

Synagogue in La Goulette, Tunisia

Neoclassical
Moorish Revival

FounderIsaac BessisCompletedc. 1910s

The Bet Mordechai Synagogue (French: Synagogue Beit Mordekhai), also known as the Bessis Synagogue or the Hospital Synagogue is a Jewish congregation and synagogue, located on Rue Khaznadar in La Goulette, a suburb of Tunis, Tunisia.

Architecture

The building was donated to the community by community-member Isaac Bessis in the 1910s and was designed by Italian architect Benoît Barsotti. Barsotti included both neoclassical and orientalist elements in the design of the building, including acroteria, columns and corniches.^[1] Despite its style choices, it does not differ much from other buildings on the street.^[2]

Access to the synagogue involves going through a passage that leads to the building façade (now separated from the street). Above the front door of the building are the Stone Tablets of the Ten Commandments.^[1] Inside, the sanctuary is a square room centred around four pillars which once supported an upper women's section and a skylight before renovations in the 1980s replaced it with a portico above the Torah Ark.^[1]

The building was reconstructed in 1995 after the roof collapsed in 1994.^[3]

Gallery

Entrance door with the Ten Commandments overhead
Sanctuary with the Holy Ark
Dedications on a side wall

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Bismuth-Jarrassé, Colette; Jarrassé, Dominique (2010). Synagogues de Tunisie. Patrimoines (in French). Le Kremlin-Bicêtre: Esthétiques du divers. pp. 261–263. ISBN 978-2-9533041-2-1.
^ Abdelhadi, Magdi (October 25, 2012). "Tunisia Jews: A tiny community hanging on - and cooking". BBC News. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
^ Bourial, Hatem (May 10, 2017). "À La Goulette, la synagogue Beit Mordekhai, un joyau en sept photos". webdo.tn (in French). Retrieved June 18, 2018.