The former Merthyr Tydfil synagogue building has been purchased by the Foundation for Jewish Heritage with the aim of creating a Welsh Jewish Heritage Centre in a £1 million-plus project.
In 1983, the Grade II-listed building was sold following the demise of the Jewish community. It has stood empty since 2006, its condition deteriorating.
Now the foundation — established in 2015 to promote the preservation of Jewish heritage globally — has ambitious plans to restore it as a showcase for more than 250 years of Welsh Jewish history. It would also serve as a cultural venue for the wider community.
Foundation chief executive Michael Mail explained that the immediate aim was to “secure the building, making it wind and water safe. We conducted several surveys of the building to make sure it was structurally sound. From the outside it looks pretty good. Inside, it’s in a pretty poor state.”
To help fund the essential repairs, an application has been submitted to Cadw, the Welsh equivalent of English Heritage, for £44,000, representing half the estimated cost. Once the work is completed, the foundation will seek support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to progress the project.
“We are developing a business plan,” Mr Mail explained. “We have already informally met Ros Kerslake, CEO of the Lottery Fund, and Richard Bellamy, head of the Lottery Fund in Wales, who gave us some good advice.
“Certain things are attractive to the Lottery Fund, such as taking a listed building and giving it a new purpose, making a contribution to the wider community and bringing social and economic benefits. That is particularly important to a town like Merthyr Tydfil. We want it to be a place of outreach.”
Mr Mail added that the project was strongly supported by the remaining Jewish community in Cardiff and by those in the Welsh Jewish diaspora. It is also backed the borough council, local MP Gerald Jones and Welsh Assembly member Dawn Bowden.
Looking longer term, he hoped that elements of the shul, a Victorian stone structure built in 1872, would be restored. “People should feel they are in a synagogue building.”
Among other things, the centre would highlight the role played by Jews in small mining communities across the valleys of South Wales.
“Personal stories are very important,” Mr Mail stressed. “We will be looking at some of the more innovative museums to see how they convey stories.
“Our hope is that it will open daily. We want to get school groups and talking to contacts, we have been encouraged by the potential.”
The foundation — whose trustees include Sir Simon Schama, Sir Anish Kapoor, Daniel Libeskind and Stephen Fry — is engaged in heritage schemes in a number of European cities, among them Slonim in Belarus and Izmir in Turkey.
“But Merthyr Tydfil is our flagship project because we’ve bought the building.”
