The Jewish museum in Venice and three of the city’s five historic synagogues are getting a $12 million refurbishment.
The renovations are expected to be completed in time for events in 2016 marking the 500th anniversary of the creation of the Venice Ghetto, according to the Venetian Heritage Council, an international philanthropic group that announced the project last week.
Fundraising efforts will be led by council chair Joseph Sitt and vice chairman, Diane von Furstenberg, the Belgian-born Jewish fashion designer whose mother was an Auschwitz survivor.
Plans include repairing and reinforcing walls, structures and design elements “that have suffered the weight of a half-millennium,” the council said in a statement.
Founded in 1953, the Jewish museum is located in the heart of the former Venice Ghetto, where Jews were confined in 1516. The synagogues, two of them in use for worship today, date back to the 16th century. — jta