Canadian Synagogue to be Part of Heritage Park

This isn't European Jewish heritage or travel -- but it's related, and pretty interesting. There are many "skansens" or open air village museums/heritage parks in Europe, where traditional buildings are gathered from various sites and reassembled to show vernacular architecture, etc. I don't know any that include a synagogue or other overtly Jewish component, except for one or two (notably the Village Museum in Sighet, Romania) that include a house or tavern once owned or lived in by Jews.

Details for this Canadian project can be found at the "Little Synagogue on the Prairie" web site.


A SYNAGOGUE LOST THEN FOUND

Jul. 31, 2008
RHONDA SPIVAK , THE JERUSALEM POST

Calgary's heritage park is soon to be the second in North America to display a restored pioneer synagogue that will teach visitors about Jewish religion and culture.

The idea was the brainchild of Irena Karshenbaum, a member of Calgary's Jewish community, who works for a small real-estate development company and is also a freelance writer.

"The only other synagogue I know of that exists in a historic park in North America is in San Diego," says Karshenbaum, who proposed her idea to the board of directors of Heritage Park.

"My initial proposal was to build a replica of a synagogue that we knew had existed in the Montefiore colony of Jewish immigrants who had settled in Alberta in 1910. We had a photo of the Montefiore synagogue, but assumed the building itself no longer actually existed."


Read the entire story