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information guide about Athens, Greece
Churches in Athens
Beth-Shalom (House
of Peace)
The Jewish Synagogue
The Jewish Synagogue on 5, Melidoni street, opposite the Museum
of Traditional Pottery, is called “Beth-Shalom” which
is Hebrew for “House of Peace”. The Jewish community
of Athens decided to acquire this plot of land and build a new
Synagogue as the older one on 8, Melidoni street, founded in the
early 20the century, was not sufficient to cover the needs of
the community that expanded with the arrival of Jewish refugees
from Asia Minor.
The
neoclassical building is made of marble from Penteli. It was completed
soon before the Second World War when in Greece, as in other parts
of Europe, a lot of Jews were brutally exterminated by the Nazis.
The Synagogue’s interior decoration was completed in 1975.
Today,
mostly the recent Synagogue is in use and the older one only operates
on big celebrations attended mainly by the older members of the
Jewish community who are sentimentally attached to the building.
5, Melidoni street
Thissio
For
typical words, please consult our Greek
glossary.