New Book | The Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam
For all those observing Rosh Hashana, may the new year bring blessings. -CH . . . From ACC Distribution:
Pieter Vlaardingerbroek, ed., The Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam (Zwolle: W Books, 2013), 208 pages, ISBN: 978-9040007989, $32.50.
The Portuguese Synagogue, or Snoge, was the largest Sephardi synagogue in the world when it was built, between 1671 and 1675. The fact that Amsterdam’s Sephardim were permitted to erect this grand structure attests to the relative freedom of Jews in this part of Western Europe, at a time when Jews elsewhere were confined to ghettos and subject to restrictions. Through the centuries, foreign tourists have been amazed by the beauty and scale of the complex. This volume examines the many aspects of this glorious synagogue, which has been preserved almost perfectly in its seventeenth-century state.
Pieter Vlaardingerbroek is an architectural historian at the Office of Monuments and Archaeology, Amsterdam.
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C O N T E N T S
The Portuguese Jewish Community in Amsterdam
Elias Bouman (1635–1686), The Architect of the Snoge
The Snoge: A Jewish Building in a Dutch Architectural Style
Construction and Maintenance (1671–2000)
Restoring the Past, Creating Room for the Future
The Festive Inauguration of the Esnoga in 1675
The Esnoga and the Snogeiros: The Interior Function of the Synagogue and its Annexes
The Ceremonial Art Treasures of the Esnoga
Enfilade 
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