Artist reveals the beauty of India’s historical synagogues

A new exhibition of watercolours captures India’s rich Jewish heritage through its more than 40 synagogues

Jay Waronker remembers the exact moment his interest in the synagogues of India was sparked.

“Browsing the library shelves one afternoon as an architecture student at Harvard University, I came across a small book titled, The Synagogue. Within its pages was a list of countries where synagogues existed, and to my surprise, India was included.”

At the time, Waronker overwhelmingly associated India with the Taj Mahal, turban-wearing Sikhs, Mahatma Gandhi and of course, curries, not to mention the birthplace of Buddhism.

Now a practicing architect and architectural historian in Atlanta and a professor of architecture at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, Waronker says he knew that someday, his attention would be consumed by these “curious religious buildings in a distant and unfamiliar land”.

Waronker grew up in Atlanta as a member of one of the largest conservative congregations in the United States, Ahavath Achim. He says its modernist synagogue dating back to 1958 is still his spiritual home.

Not surprisingly, when he started to travel as an adult, Waronker sought out synagogues wherever he went. “As an ancient category, synagogues over history have very rarely conformed to stylistic rules anywhere in the world or, as an architectural genre, been resolved in unique or identifiable terms,” he enthuses.

However, Waronker can’t easily explain his preoccupation with synagogues in India. Despite no ethnic connection to the faraway subcontinent, he was curious about the seemingly incongruous Jewish houses of prayer set in an Indian landscape. This led to several efforts to preserve, maintain and share the importance of these buildings. He has also published widely on the subject, including The Synagogues of India: Architecture, History and Communities.