Jewish temple now home to art
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Aslı Sağlam
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Ocak 02, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - Istanbul is full of stories. The 18th-century Kamondo stairs in Beyoğlu, bekons people on an unknown journey. At the top of the historic stairs on the right is an old synagogue that hosted local Jews for over 60 years. It has now been converted into an art gallery, the Schneidertempel Art Center and is home to several caricatures and other works
If the historic buildings of Istanbul could talk, they would tell many stories, if cobblestones could sing they would mumble in many different languages. Galata, connecting Karaköy and Taksim, is one of those musical neighborhoods, mysterious and awaiting to be discovered.
The curvaceous 18th-century Kamondo stairs, one of Beyoğlu's most distinctive urban designs, standing as if it is calling people on an unknown journey. Stuck between historic buildings on famous Bankers Street, the stairs take their name from the Kamondo family, whose wealth, in their time, was comparable with the top European bankers.
One climbes up the stairs to find a historic synagogue, now an art gallery: Schneidertempel Art Center.
Tailor temple
The name ’Schneidertempel’ is a German word for "tailor temple." The art gallery, formerly a synagogue established by the Ashkenazi Tailor Jews Association in 1894, is where the name comes from. The temple, one of the three synagogues in Galata district, served as a desolte depot before it became an art gallery.
In ancient Greek, ’syn’ means ’together’ and ’ago’ means ’to gather.’ So ’synagogue’ is a place where ’people gathering in a place.’ The synagogue was built by the tailors who migrated from Russia and East Europe, especially specialized on designing vests.
The temple, whose construction began with the approval of Sultan II Abdülhamit, wanting to reward the palace tailor, opened its doors for tailors to carry out the tenets of their faith. Besides the budget allocated by the palace, the tailors also accumulated resources amongst themselves.
After hosting the Jews for more than 60 years, Schneidertempel was left to its destiny by the same people who established the synagogue because they opened new temples and started using the tailor’s temple as a depot. Until the Jewish community thought they can turn the place into an art center.
Even though the synagogue is located in the middle of two apartment buildings, it is not different than the others. With its front construction and the raised ground floor, Schneidertempel has a simplistic interior design. There is a mosaic close to the ceiling, the Star of David, also known as the star of the Jews, made out of mosaics.
The sides of the inner part of the temple is constructed for women. "There are usually two story balconies in Synagogues," said Handan Önel, the manager of the art center.
The chairs placed in the balconies are for women and the chairs in the hall is for men, she added.
After a while the prayers stopped echoing in the temple with the changing preferences of profession among the community. For a while it was used as a headquarter for the Ashkenazi Tailor Jews Association.
Just as the white walls of the temple started turning yellowish, the place having no remembrance by the true Istanbul people, the new generation of the association came out with a plan to turn this ruined place into an art center. The veteran temple, which opened with the exhibition "Believes on the verge of a millennium," bloomed with the help of the businessman Mario Freiman, and the art advisors; the caricaturists’ İzel Rosental and Tan Oral, said Önel.
Embracing social issues
According to Önel, who started working in the transformed art gallery in 2002, the exhibitions that take place in Schneidertempel has to embrace a social concern and has to have a certain theme.
Telling that the temple, restored without loosing anything from its original construction, attracts attention both from tourists and locals, Önel said, the season for art starts in September and ends in June.
Hosting a different exhibition each month, the temple hardly exhibited paintings. "We usually prefer displaying caricatures," said Önel.
Schneidertempel hosted numerous exhibitions of inernationally acclaimed caricatures.
Now Oral has an interesting exhibition where he caricaturises the stories on Beyoğlu written by famous writers. With the simplicity in his works, Oral adds more elegance to the temple.
For visiting the former synagogue no entrance fee is required.
Schneidertempel Art Center: Bankalar Cd.
Felek Sk. No:1 Karaköy, ISTANBUL
Tel: 0 212 249 01 50 info@schneidertempel.com
The curvaceous 18th-century Kamondo stairs, one of Beyoğlu's most distinctive urban designs, standing as if it is calling people on an unknown journey. Stuck between historic buildings on famous Bankers Street, the stairs take their name from the Kamondo family, whose wealth, in their time, was comparable with the top European bankers.
One climbes up the stairs to find a historic synagogue, now an art gallery: Schneidertempel Art Center.
Tailor temple
The name ’Schneidertempel’ is a German word for "tailor temple." The art gallery, formerly a synagogue established by the Ashkenazi Tailor Jews Association in 1894, is where the name comes from. The temple, one of the three synagogues in Galata district, served as a desolte depot before it became an art gallery.
In ancient Greek, ’syn’ means ’together’ and ’ago’ means ’to gather.’ So ’synagogue’ is a place where ’people gathering in a place.’ The synagogue was built by the tailors who migrated from Russia and East Europe, especially specialized on designing vests.
The temple, whose construction began with the approval of Sultan II Abdülhamit, wanting to reward the palace tailor, opened its doors for tailors to carry out the tenets of their faith. Besides the budget allocated by the palace, the tailors also accumulated resources amongst themselves.
After hosting the Jews for more than 60 years, Schneidertempel was left to its destiny by the same people who established the synagogue because they opened new temples and started using the tailor’s temple as a depot. Until the Jewish community thought they can turn the place into an art center.
Even though the synagogue is located in the middle of two apartment buildings, it is not different than the others. With its front construction and the raised ground floor, Schneidertempel has a simplistic interior design. There is a mosaic close to the ceiling, the Star of David, also known as the star of the Jews, made out of mosaics.
The sides of the inner part of the temple is constructed for women. "There are usually two story balconies in Synagogues," said Handan Önel, the manager of the art center.
The chairs placed in the balconies are for women and the chairs in the hall is for men, she added.
After a while the prayers stopped echoing in the temple with the changing preferences of profession among the community. For a while it was used as a headquarter for the Ashkenazi Tailor Jews Association.
Just as the white walls of the temple started turning yellowish, the place having no remembrance by the true Istanbul people, the new generation of the association came out with a plan to turn this ruined place into an art center. The veteran temple, which opened with the exhibition "Believes on the verge of a millennium," bloomed with the help of the businessman Mario Freiman, and the art advisors; the caricaturists’ İzel Rosental and Tan Oral, said Önel.
Embracing social issues
According to Önel, who started working in the transformed art gallery in 2002, the exhibitions that take place in Schneidertempel has to embrace a social concern and has to have a certain theme.
Telling that the temple, restored without loosing anything from its original construction, attracts attention both from tourists and locals, Önel said, the season for art starts in September and ends in June.
Hosting a different exhibition each month, the temple hardly exhibited paintings. "We usually prefer displaying caricatures," said Önel.
Schneidertempel hosted numerous exhibitions of inernationally acclaimed caricatures.
Now Oral has an interesting exhibition where he caricaturises the stories on Beyoğlu written by famous writers. With the simplicity in his works, Oral adds more elegance to the temple.
For visiting the former synagogue no entrance fee is required.
Schneidertempel Art Center: Bankalar Cd.
Felek Sk. No:1 Karaköy, ISTANBUL
Tel: 0 212 249 01 50 info@schneidertempel.com