ROME — Synagogues in England and in seven countries of Eastern and Central Europe will receive a total of $140,000 from the World Monuments Fund as part of a preservation program.
The synagogues that will receive the grants, announced Monday, include the largest Sephardic synagogue in the Balkans, a Baroque synagogue in Hungary and a ruined synagogue complex in Lithuania.
The grants will be awarded through the New York-based organization’s Jewish Heritage Program and the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation, which last year made a five-year, $500,000 commitment to such projects. Additional funding came from private donors.
The 2001 grantees include:
*The Central Synagogue in Sofia, Bulgaria, built in 1906. It is one of the largest and most significant Sephardic synagogues in Europe.
*The 19th-century Prince’s Road Synagogue in Liverpool, England, an active Orthodox synagogue.
*The synagogue in Carpentras, France. Built in 1374, it is one of the oldest synagogues in Europe.
*The 18th-century synagogue in Mad, Hungary, one of the oldest synagogues in Hungary.
*The only surviving synagogue in Lviv, Ukraine, built in 1924 and today the center of an active outreach program.
*The Choral Synagogue in Kiev, Ukraine, built in 1896.
This was the second year that the Jewish Heritage Program made such grants.
Recipients were selected from proposals submitted by nongovernmental organizations, Jewish communities and others interested in the preservation of Jewish cultural heritage.
Projects were chosen on the basis of significance, viability, and other factors.