The Zion Plovdiv Synagogue  Plovdiv, Bulgaria - July.2017

The Zion Plovdiv Synagogue is a synagogue in the city of Plovdiv located in Bulgaria. This synagogue is one of the only 2 synagogues that remain active to this day in Bulgaria In 1360, when the city was conquered by the Turks certain Jews who emigrated from Aragon in 1492 settled in Philippopolis and built a synagogue called "K. K. Aragon," which was standing in 1540 but is no longer in existence. In 1892 following Bulgaria liberation from Ottoman domination in 1878 one of the first synagogues to be erected was the (Zion) Synagogue in Plovdiv. It was built in the remnants of a small courtyard in what was once a large Jewish quarter called Orta Mezar during the Turkish rule. The location of the Sephardic synagogue is now called Tsar Kaloyan Street 13. Before the Second World War, the Jewish quarter had a population of 7000. The Synagogue is one of the best-preserved examples of the "Ottoman-style" synagogues in the Balkans. An exquisite Venetian glass chandelier hangs from the center of the ceiling, which has a richly painted dome. All surfaces are covered in elaborate, Moorish-style, geometric designs in once-bright greens and blues. Torah scrolls are kept in the gilded Aron-ha-Kodesh. In 1904 the Jewish community possessed three other synagogues: Jeshurun, built in 1710 according to the inscription on a marble slab in the synagogue; Ahabat-Shalom, built in 1880; Shebeṭ Aḥim or Mafṭirim, founded in 1882 by emigrants from Karlovo, whence the Jews fled during the Turko-Russian war (1877-1878).  (Source: en.wikipedia.org)