Varna

The Sephardi synagogue, known to most citizens of Varna simply as the "Large Synagogue," was erected in 1890. Its architecture is the typical mixture of Neoclassical and Moorish styles, which was very popular at the time. 

Situated right behind the Neo-Baroque building of the Admiralty House, the current General Staff of the Bulgarian Navy, the Sephardi Synagogue (on the intersection of Pres- byter Kozma and Vardar streets) was off limits for most of the second half of the 20th century. Next door to it, the house of the Sephardi rabbi was used by military intelligence. Now the fence around the former synagogue is gone, but its roof has already collapsed, trees sprout inside its interior, and it is doubtful whether the fine late-19th century structure can ever be restored. The courts returned the rabbinical house to the Jewish community but the military refused to vacate it, citing reasons of national security. In 2017 plans to restore the building into a cultural centre were unveiled but so far these have stalled. 

Varna has a functioning Jewish cemetery, which is a part of the Central City Cemetery, sometimes called the "Old Cemetery". It has about 400 graves and a non-functioning chel. Most of the graves are in good condition but some of them are overgrown with vegetation. 

In the 1930s, however, this was the "New Cemetery." The old "Old Cemetery" was by the sea. It was demolished to make room for the city's famous Maritime Garden. 

Most of the remains of the Jews buried there were transferred to the Old-New Cemetery, but some were not – and their names were in- scribed on a special wall next to the chel. 

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.