This lovely little synagogue was built in 1824 to a design by Carlo Visioli on the site of a much older synagogue there from the XVII century on the second floor of the Jewish quarter, next to the Church of St. Roche.
The presence of a Jewish community in Sabbioneta dates from 1436 when Gianfrancesco Gonzaga authorized the Jewish brothers Bonaiuto and Bonaventura from Pisa to live in Sabbioneta and run a pawnbroker’s shop.
A generously dimensioned rectangular foyer leads into the synagogue.
The Ark (Aròn Hakodesh) where the Scrolls of the Law were stored, is at the rear of the room directly in front of the entryway.
It is set into the wall and framed by two Corinthian columns surmounted by a tympanum.
The women’s gallery is above the entrance and shielded from the hall side by a wooden grating.
The left side windows overlook an internal courtyard while those on the right, overlooking the street are dummy.
The domical vault, enriched with plasterwork by Pietro Bolla from Switzerland, is supported by a series of wall pilasters and four Corinthian capital columns.
The furnishings that remain are splendid and precious.
Apart from the gilded and decorated doors of the Ark, there are the oil lamps hanging by the sides of the Ark, a wrought iron gate (certainly older than the synagogue itself ) and the wooden pedestal (Bimà h) used as the reading stand.
The benches are 19th century.
The Holy Ark of the old synagogue (a four door wooden cupboard with two pilasters surmounted by Corinthian half-capitals framing the top doors) was taken to Jerusalem in1970 to be used to store the “Sifrè Torah” in the Judge’s Hall of the Upper Rabinical Court.
