Published: 14 December 2018
Last updated: 4 March 2024
EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT Abdel Fattah el-Sisi will allocate A$100 million to renovate Jewish heritage sites and synagogues in Egypt, Minister of Archaeology Khaled Al-Anani revealed, as the country marked the festival of Chanukah with an interfaith gathering.
The Egyptian government has some 500 items collected from synagogues, which will be presented to the general public. Cairo has 13 synagogues, but only three of them are active: the Shaarei Shamayim Synagogue, the Ben Ezra Synagogue in the Abbassia neighbourhood and the synagogue of the Karaite community.
Al-Anani said that some of the synagogues would cease to serve as houses of worship and would instead become tourist sites open to the general public.
"There is significance in rehabilitating Jewish synagogues, similar to renovating pharaonic, Islamic and Coptic heritage sites," the minister said. But he added: "It should be remembered that the Jewish articles and the synagogues belong to the Egyptian government."
FULL STORY Egypt to renovate its Jewish heritage sites (Ynet)
Photo: Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue in Alexandria (AFP)
