Wales’ oldest surviving synagogue will have a second life as a Jewish cultural centre after receiving nearly £4 million in funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
First established in 1876, Merthyr Tydfil Synagogue is the only one in the UK built in the Northern Gothic style. It functioned as a synagogue until 1983, before a stint as a Christian centre and then as Merthyr’s main fitness centre. The transformation cost the synagogue its prayer hall, ark and parts of its flooring to accommodate gym equipment.
Now with a £3.9 million National Heritage grant, the premises will be fully restored into the Welsh Jewish Cultural Centre, providing educational programmes and community engagement, as well as jobs and voluntary opportunities.
David Bearman, chair of trustees of the Welsh Jewish Cultural Centre, told the Nation Cymru: “We are delighted to have received funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to save the historic synagogue in Merthyr Tydfil, the most important Jewish heritage site in Wales.
“Lottery support will allow us to reopen the building to the public and establish a new Welsh Jewish Cultural Centre with an exhibition that tells the stories of the contribution of Welsh Jewish communities to social and economic development in Wales, and with a diverse programme of learning, events and activities. We thank all Lottery players who have made this possible.”
According to the book, The Jews of South Wales, edited by Ursula R.Q. Henriques, Jewish workers migrated to Merthyr Tydfil during an industrial boom but began to move away as opportunities dried up in the twentieth century. Besides European refugees of Nazi persecution and Blitz evacuees, the synagogue went largely unattended and was sold in the 1980s, with its sacred objects protected in a Gateshead yeshivah.
Now, alongside architectural restorations of the synagogue’s ark and balcony, a permanent exhibition will detail the building’s evolution and celebrate Welsh Jewish history. An artist will create a new stained-glass feature in collaboration with the local community, and the landscape will be fitted with a tree propagated from the Anne Frank Tree in Amsterdam.
In addition, the synagogue will host talks, tours, celebrations of Jewish festivals, and a Young Curator programme, which will give young people the opportunity to work in the exhibition. Local primary schools will also be able to research Merthyr’s historical Jewish population and convert their findings into artwork.
Andrew White, director for Wales at the National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “The Welsh Jewish Cultural Centre project will bring to life the rich and often under-told stories of Jewish communities in Wales, celebrating over 250 years of history and culture. Thanks to National Lottery players, this support will help restore and safeguard a historic Welsh synagogue and create vibrant space where these stories can be shared, explored and enjoyed by future generations.”
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