The cave in the Sassi of Matera identified as the oldest synagogue in Europe
On September 17, 2019, Matera once again confirmes how important its history is: the oldest synagogue in Europe is found here.
The story of the discovery starts long ago, about twenty years earlier, when the father of Giacinto Chita, who together with the artist Donato Rizzi claims that the cave is a synagogue, and uses it as a cellar. Nobody notices what it is hiding, because it is in a state of total disaster.
Then, in the 1980s, the degradation and abandonment worsen, hiding the secret of the cave, which was brought to light thanks to Rizzi, who was the first to realize that this was not just a cave: cleaning it from the dirt, evident signs emerged.
However, the hypotheses always leave a space for doubts, that’s why today, on the occasion of the interreligious conference “Pax Mater”, two rabbis, Herschel Gluck and Bruno Fiszon, arrived in the city, who, after visiting the cave, confirmed: this it is a synagogue.
This can be clearly seen from the altar for the display and reading of the Torah, from the ritual bath, from the presence of inscriptions and symbols of the Jewish religion. Furthermore, in this part of the city, in the sixteenth century, there was a Jewish quarter subsequently occupied by the Spaniards.
Today another important piece is added to the history of Matera, which almost daily pulls new pieces out of its “historical treasure chest” for the benefit of the whole of humanity.
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