Saturday, June 24, 2023

Albania's Jewish history: holocaust memorial, menorah mosaic, kosher hotel, synagogue and points of interest in Albania


Holocause memorial in the park in Tirana, capital of Albania. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.


1 The holocaust memorial in the capital, Tirana


2 Nearby is the shop whose facade overhead shows a magen David, the six point star, which attracted my attention. Inside the shop are jewellery, antiques and knick knacks, and a magnificent decorated ceiling. The owner, whose name in English is Solomon, is a mine of information. 


3 He has the key to the which he had built synagogue. 

4 His son David runs a kosher hotel full of amusing oddities and vintage items on the hillside above Dhermi beach.

5 Sarande Synagogue Floor

6 Isak winery was originally owned by a Jewish man called  Isak from whom the current owners bought the buiness. 

 Google told me - Sarandë is a resort on the Albanian Riviera, in southern Albania. Sandwiched between the Ionian Sea and hills of olive groves, the town is on a horseshoe-shaped bay, edged by beaches and a promenade. In the center are the archaeological remains of a 5th-century synagogue ...

Wiki says

Saranda, then under the name of Onchesmos, is held to be the site of Albania's first synagogue, which was built in the 4th[20] or 5th century. It is thought that it was built by the descendants of Jews who arrived on the southern shores of Albania around 70 CE.[21] Onchesmos' synagogue was supplanted by a church in the 6th century.[20]

See pictures of half a menorah (7 branch candlestick used on the eve of the Sabbath, ie Friday night).

Useful Websites

https://www.visitsaranda.net/see/synagogue-complex/

https://www.visitsaranda.net/see/synagogue-complex/

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