City Faith – Shylock’s Synagogue, Venice Ghetto Faith by The Delhi Walla - February 16, 2016February 16, 20162 Inside Shakespeare’s temple. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] More than four centuries ago, he must have stood week after week under this same chandelier to pray within these same walls. His unfaithful daughter must have stood in the women’s gallery upstairs. This is Shylock’s synagogue. The Delhi Walla is in the Jewish ghetto of Venice, Italy. The world’s first ghetto is marking its 500th anniversary this year. This is also the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare whose character Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, is probably the world’s most famous Venetian. The fact-checkers might object that Shylock never really existed, and that the playwright of The Merchant of Venice never ever visited Venice. But then they forgot to check the power of fiction. If Shylock really existed, he would have been a regular in this Jewish temple. The Grand German Synagogue, built in 1528, is the oldest of the five synagogues of Venice, all of which are in this historic ghetto. Since, traditionally only German Jews were permitted by the city’s Christian authorities to be moneylenders, it is for certain that Shylock, if he were to be real, would have belonged to this German synagogue. The lavishly decorated temple has scores of glittering chandeliers hanging from the roof. The 500-year-old wood of the walnut pews is particularly notable—it looks dark and polished and seems to contain secrets of the previous centuries. The Ten Commandments run over the walls in gold letters. The gold-plated pulpit stands at one corner. All these sacred objects are mute witnesses to horrors of the past; they must have also witnessed the presence of Shylock, who, of course, never existed. Even so, he is strongly felt in Venice, especially so in the ghetto, and more so in this synagogue. The house of God 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. FacebookX Related Related posts: Home Sweet Home – A Jewish Ghost’s House, Venice Ghetto Home Sweet Home – Elena Ferrrazzi’s Home, Venice Ghetto City Travel – The Ancient Jewish Ghetto, Venice City Library – Renato Maestro’s Books, Venice Ghetto City Moment – The Artist Sits Beside His Biography, Venice Ghetto
What a gorgeous little slice of history! I love the way Europeans preserve/restore their architectural heritage. I am tempted to contrast their approach to what we usually see in the 5,000-year-old vishwaguru nation of India. Barring a few honorable exceptions, most medieval/ancient buildings are treated horribly. We have a surfeit of built heritage in our cities and this seems to contribute to our collective apathy. Secular buildings ( garden pavilions, fortifications and palaces) fare the worst. For instance, a little-known walled garden that was built in the era of Jahangir, called Baagh-e Mehram Khaan, is now on the verge of obliteration. It is located right next to an active DMRC construction site whose mounds of earth and debris grow threateningly larger with each passing day.I fear that the remnants of its pavilions and gates will soon disappear. Another walled garden – Baagh-e Naazir in Mehrauli- was commandeered by some Buddhist organization that altered its late-Mughal pavilions and gateways.