Casa de Francisco Campuzano Polanco en Coro

The "Casa de Oración Hebrea", mostly known as the Coro Synagogue, is a

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

in the city of

Santa Ana de Coro Coro, historically known as Neu-Augsburg, is the capital of Falcón State and the second oldest city of Venezuela (after Cumaná). It was founded on July 26, 1527, by Juan de Ampíes as Santa Ana de Coro. It is established at the south of the Par ...

Falcón ) , anthem = , image_map = Falcon in Venezuela.svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Location within Venezuela , pushpin_map = , pushpin_map_alt = , pushpin_mapsiz ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, a city located near the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

coast and the Dutch island of

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...

; it is known as one of the oldest

s in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

History

The synagogue was originally a house built in the first half of the XVIII century by the

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

of Coro Don Francisco Campuzano Polanco as his residence, bought on July 30, 1847 by Mr. David Abraham Senior, a

sephardic Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...

trader from

who lived in the city and formed part of the growing Jewish community of the city. Before that, the community used to gather at the house of Mr. David Valencia to pray. It is known that around 20 people gathered there for

shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...

and daily prayer services. Isaac Senior, David's son and his descendants continued living in the house and using one of its rooms as a prayer hall, until the 1880s.

Acquisition by the Venezuelan Government

Interior de casa de Francisco Campuzano Polanco en Coro

On February 6, 1986, the house was bought by the government of

, and on August 3, 1997, the government of

Falcón State ) , anthem = , image_map = Falcon in Venezuela.svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Location within Venezuela , pushpin_map = , pushpin_map_alt = , pushpin_mapsiz ...

reopens the house under the name of "Casa de Oración Hebrea" (Hebrew Prayer House) as an important cultural contribution that forms part of the

heritage in this region of northern

. The synagogue is on Talavera Street, in the city's old quarter and has its floor covered in sand of the Médanos de Coro, in the same fashion as the sea sand that covers the floor of Mikvé Israel-Emanuel Synagogue in

Willemstad Willemstad ( , ; ; en, William I of the Netherlands, William Town, italic=yes) is the capital city of Curaçao, an island in the southern Caribbean Sea that forms a Countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, constituent country of the Kingdo ...

, from where the community arrived from more than two centuries ago. Currently, the synagogue is part of the

Alberto Henríquez Museum of Art Alberto is the Romance version of the Latinized form (''Albertus'') of Germanic ''Albert''. It is used in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. The diminutive forms are ''Albertito'' in Spain or ''Albertico'' in some parts of Latin America, Albe ...

, which belongs to

Universidad Francisco de Miranda Universidad (Spanish for "university") may refer to: Places * Universidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico * Universidad (Madrid) Football clubs * Universidad SC, a Guatemalan football club that represents the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala ...

. In 2009, the university contacted the

Israelite Association of Venezuela The Israelite Association of Venezuela, (Spanish: ''Asociación Israelita de Venezuela''), known as Tiferet Israel, founded in the 1920s by Sephardic Jews, is the oldest surviving Jewish organization in Venezuela. An association of Sephardic Jews, ...

in order to find support for the restoration and maintenance of the

.Casa de Oración judía en Coro busca aportes solidarios para su restauración
. Nuevo Mundo Israelita

References

External links

The synagogue. Images of Coro, Venezuela
VirtualTourist.com
GALERIA DE IMAGENES DE SINAGOGA EN CORO, VENEZUELA
CAIV {{Coord, 11.4079, -69.6763, display=title Sephardi Jewish culture in Venezuela

Coro Coro or CORO may refer to: Entertainment * ''Coro'' (Berio), a composition by Luciano Berio * Coro (music), Italian for choir * Coro TV, Venezuelan community television channel * Omweso (Coro), mancala game played in the Lango region of Uganda * ...

Buildings and structures in Falcón Religious buildings and structures completed in 1774 Museums established in 1997 Buildings and structures in Coro, Venezuela