FORMER ASHKENAZI SYNAGOGUE, VARNA

The Ashkenazi synagogue of Varna, called the "Small Synagogue," was a brilliant example of the German Jügendstil. It was constructed in 1908-1910. After most of Varna's Jews emigrated to Israel in the late 1940s-early 1950s, the Ashkenazi synagogue fell into such disrepair and dilapidation that it had to be demolished around the mid-2000s. The site was sold to a private company which erected a business centre in its place. In a rare instance of sensitive modern urban architecture, the façade of the former synagogue was reconstructed from scratch, down to the minutest detail, a huge Star of David beaming down from the concrete-and-glass structure.