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Synagogue at Bejaia, Algeria
One of the most colorful in Algeria, the main synagogue of Bejaia remains intact with a brightly-tiled red roof topped by a copula featuring a distinctive mosaic of blue and yellow tiles. This copula helps the synagogue stand out amidst the crowded Mediterranean port city - whose French name, "Bougie," became synonymous with the beeswax candles that merchants began exporting to Europe in the 14th Century (a luxury good replacing the old oil lamps). The city is also noteworthy as the largest in the Kabylie region (it is majority Amazigh) and for its striking setting, with high mountains descending rapidly to the sea. Jews arrived in Bejaia in the 11th Century and were persecuted during the 1552 conquest of the city by the Almohades. The synagogue is located on Rue A Touati, reflecting how some of the city's Jewish residents were refugees from the Saharan Jewish empire of Touat (destroyed in 1492). They were joined by refugees from the Spanish Inquisition. The synagogue (today used as a school by the nearby Lycee Ibn Sina) is located inside the old city walls. Outside the walls to the east lies the Jewish cemetery along a hill sloping down toward the Mediterranean [1].
Description
Bejaia is located along the Algerian coast about 175 kilometers east of Algiers. Jews likely lived in Bejaia as early as the eleventh century, and the Jewish community continued to grow through the fourteenth century as Jews from the Balearic Islands, Italy, Spain, and Marseilles settled there. As a port city, Bejaia was a center of trade and the Jewish community in the city was greatly involved in this commerce. Although Bejaia was conquered by Spain in 1510 and the Jewish community was heavily targeted, the community survived and in 1552 the Jewish population numbered around 600. During the 1833 French occupation, the Jewish community fled Bejaia, but returned five years later in 1838. Although the Jewish community numbered around 261 in 1861, it had increased to 625 in 1941. After 1962 and Algeria's independence, the Jewish community in Bejaia emigrated, primarily to France, ending the period of Jewish influence in Bejaia [2].
Sources
[1] Richard Ayoun, "Béjaïa (Bougie, Bijāya)," Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World, Executive Editor Norman A. Stillman, Brill Online, 2014, Reference, Wellesley College, 25 June 2014 <http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-jews-in-the-islamic-world/bejaia-bougie-bijaya-SIM_0003450>.
[2] Ibid.