Language:
English
Pages:
Illustrationen
Year of publication:
2007
Titel der Quelle:
Ars Judaica : the Bar-Ilan journal of Jewish art
Publ. der Quelle:
Ramat-Gan
Angaben zur Quelle:
3 (2007), Seite 31 - 52
Keywords:
Architektur
;
London Bevis-Marks-Synagoge
Abstract:
The historic synagogue of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation in London, called in Hebrew Sha'ar ha-Shamayim ("The Gate of Heaven") but universally known by its street name of "Bevis Marks," symbolizes the continuity of Jewish life in Britain. Opened in 1701, Bevis Marks is the oldest synagogue in the land and has been in continuous use for over 300 years. Jews had returned to England less than fifty years earlier, in 1656,after an absence of nearly 400 years, since the medieval expulsion under Edward I in 1290. Jews came back from Amsterdam in the wake of Rabbi Menasseh Ben Israel̷s petition to Oliver Cromwell, during the brief period when England was a republic. Since then, the Jewish community has enjoyed a history of unbroken settlement in England, a record unrivalled anywhere else in Europe. According to the latest statistics (2001 national census) the Jewish community today comprises about 267,000 people, down from a peak of about 450,000 in the 1950s. Less than one percent of the total population of the UK, Anglo-Jewry is Britain's oldest non-Christian faith community. Bevis Marks was declared a national monument in 1929 and still remains the sole Grade I Listed [landmarked] synagogue in the country [...]
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