Kadoorie Synagogue
| Kadoorie Synagogue | |
|---|---|
Synagogue facade
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| Basic information | |
| Location | Guerra Junqueiro street, Porto, Portugal |
| Geographic coordinates | 41°9′21.38″N 8°38′12.9″W / 41.1559389°N 8.636917°W |
| Affiliation | Orthodox Judaism |
| Rite | Sephardic |
| Status | Active |
| Website | http://comunidade-israelita-porto.org |
| Architectural description | |
| Architect(s) | Augusto dos Santos Malta, Arthur de Almeida Jr. |
| Architectural style | Modernism |
| Founder | Artur Barros Basto |
| Groundbreaking | 1929 |
| Completed | 1938 |
| Capacity | 350+ |
The Kadoorie Synagogue, also known Synagogue Kadoorie - Mekor Haim ("Fountain of Life") is the current synagogue of the Jewish Community of Porto. Its construction started in 1929 and was inaugurated in 1938. It is the largest synagogue in the Iberian Peninsula. The synagogue "Kadoorie - Mekor Haim", is located on Guerra Junqueiro Street, in the city of Porto, Portugal.
The history of Kadoorie synagogue is inextricably linked to the history of its founder, Portuguese army officer Captain Artur Barros Basto, a Portuguese Sephardic Ben Anusim returnee to Judaism.
In the early twenties of the last century there were at least twenty Ashkenazim Jews in the city; since they did not have a synagogue they had to go to Lisbon, for all religious matters.
After realizing the need for a synagogue, Barros Basto started to plan on building a synagogue but first, on his own initiative, officially registers in the Civil Government the local Jewish community in 1923 and named it Comunidade Israelita do Porto (Israelite Community of Porto).
The present synagogue would only begin to be built years later but the community was organized and rented a house on the Elias Garcia street that started to function as a synagogue.
In 1927, Barros Basto founded the Portuguese Jewish Newspaper called Ha-Lapid.
In 1929, Barros Basto raised funds that enabled him to buy the plot of land for the future synagogue, in Guerra Junqueiro Street.
On November 13, 1929 an application for obtaining the necessary licensing to begin work was delivered at Câmara Municipal do Porto (Municipal chamber) and a few weeks later the first stone was laid and the construction began. The work progressed slowly until 1933, due to the high costs and the limited funds of its founder and the community, despite all the support that was provided by the Committee for the Spanish-Portuguese Jews of London.
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