Jewish Synagogues and their Urban Environment in the Jubareh District of Isfahan, Iran

FAIN: HB-50419-14

Mohammad Gharipour
Morgan State University (Baltimore, MD 21251-0001)

One of the earliest Jewish settlements in Iran was the city of Isfahan, which was probably established at the time of the deportations of Jews by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian kingdoms in the first millennium BCE. Isfahan, located in the center of Iran, gained world renown as the capital of the Seljuk and Safavid empires. Jubareh, the Jewish quarter of Isfahan, which was in proximity to the Friday Mosque, housed the majority of Jews as well as their synagogues. These synagogues were not only religious centers, but also core of communal organization. This project attempts to explore urban aspects of synagogues of Jubareh by examining the physical and metaphoric links between the city and synagogues. Studying formal, spatial, and symbolic qualities of synagogue architecture and their connections to the city, this book proposes to analyze the connections between synagogues and the urban fabric, while answering specific questions about the architecture and culture of the synagogue.

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