(Jewish Group) Historic Welsh synagogue gets over $600,000 to reopen as cultural center
The Welsh and British governments are giving a Jewish heritage organization over $600,000 to open a Jewish cultural center at a historic former Welsh synagogue.
The Foundation for Jewish Heritage, a British group that researches, advocates and restores Jewish heritage sites across Europe, announced Tuesday that it will receive the funds from the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF), which is administered by the British government, and the Welsh governments Transforming Towns program to begin a development phase.
The Foundation bought the Merthyr Tydfil synagogue building in 2019 with the plans of creating the first museum devoted to the history of Jews in Wales.
The synagogue was opened in 1877, when an influx of Central and Eastern European Jewish immigrants to South Wales necessitated a second synagogue in the area.
The Merthyr Tydfil synagogue, which opened in 1877, has been out of use since 2006. (Chris Andrews/Wikimedia Commons)
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