ABANDONED SYNAGOGUE, SAMOKOV

In 1857-1860 the Samokov Jews built a new, modern synagogue. It was a large building, at 330 square metres, and was 8 metres tall, with 38 windows. Accounts of who built it vary. According to some archives, it was erected by Edirne workers commissioned by the wealthy Arie family. Another theory is that the synagogue was built by local craftsmen. It appears that the same builders also worked on the impressive Bayrakli Mosque, in the middle of town. 

In 1965 it was listed as a cultural monument and there were plans to convert it into a concert hall. Restoration work started but it ended abruptly as a result of a fire in 1975. 

Ignored and abandoned, the building fell into disrepair. At the beginning of the 1990s it was returned to the Shalom Organisation of Bulgarian Jews, but in 2018 the organisation transferred the property rights to Samokov City Council on the grounds that it would restore it and turn it into a culture centre. So far little has been done. 

The synagogue is currently inaccessible, at least in theory. It is cordoned off with a fence, but it is an easy matter to jump over and enter its large, derelict hall. 

An incredible, restored wood-carved ceiling with a huge Star of David hangs above your head. A faded fresco depicting the Holy Land adorns the wall, complemented by unspeakable graffiti spray-painted by locals. 

Samokov synagogue marks the location of the town's Jewish neighbourhood in the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. In the following decades the abandoned temple has survived a fire, a robbery and multiple cases of vandalism.