Possible Medieval Synagogue Identified in Bulgaria

VELIKO TURNOVO, BULGARIA—According to a Sofia Globe report, archaeologists led by Mirko Robov of the Bulgarian National Archaeological Institute announced that a structure located near northwestern Bulgaria’s Trapezitsa Fortress site may have been a synagogue. The building, which is lined with stone slabs and measures about 70 feet long on the east-west axis and 38 feet wide on the north-south axis, is thought to date to the middle of the thirteenth century. The entrance to the structure, placed on the western side, featured a massive door. The apse built with two columns and an arch stood on the eastern side. Robov said the building was situated in what had been a Jewish neighborhood known as Turnovo, founded by Jewish immigrants from Constantinople and Venice under the thirteenth-century rule of Tsar Asen II. In the fourteenth century, however, Tsar Ivan Alexander persecuted members of Turnovo’s Jewish community. For more on Bulgarian archaeology, go to "Iconic Discovery."