Disclaimer
This entry contains information known to us from a variety of sources but may not include all the information currently available. Please be in touch if you notice any inadvertent mistakes in our presentation or have additional knowledge or sources to share. Thank you.
Archive
Mushi Haja Synagogue, Isfahan, Iran
The Mushi Haja (מושי חאגא, موشی حاجا) Synagogue in Isfahan (Esfahan, אספהאן, اصفهان), Iran.
Description
History
The oldest synagogue in Isfahan, Mushi Haja, dates back to around 1700.1 This was during the Safavid Era, which also happened to be the political and cultural peak of Isfahan.2 The synagogue was named after its founder, Moshe Haya.3 It is located in Jubareh District, which is the one of the three oldest Jewish neighborhoods and the largest in Isfahan.4
Features
From the main street, there is a small entrance with a skylight on the dome roof, with a thatch on the outside, like many of the other synagogues.5 It stands out in its interior, with geometric ornaments on the ceiling.6 The bimah is in the central bay below a dome with a lantern skylight.7 There is a half-story on eastern side that is used as a female sitting area, and two windows on the western wall face Jerusalem.8
Faience tiles in the synagogue were made by Isfahan Jews artisans, which the city was famous for during the Safavid Era.9 The Mushi Haja and the Shmuel Shamoun synagogues were connected structures although two different congregations, like many of the synagogues in Isfahan, which were smaller than the mosques by law and many of them connected to another.10
Current Standing
While not renovated since its construction, the synagogues is still in good condition.11
Isfahan, Iran
© Mapbox, © OpenStreetMap
Sources
Notes
1. Gharipour, Mohammad. “2014 Architecture, Culture, and Spirituality Symposium.” In The Question of Identity: The Architecture of Synagogues in Isfahan, Iran, 3. Toronto, ON: 2014 Architecture, Culture, and Spirituality Symposium, 2014. http://www.acsforum.org/symposium2014/papers/GHARIPOUR.pdf.
2. Vera B. Moreen. ‘Isfahan’. In Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World, edited by Norman A. Stillman, Phillip I. Ackerman-Lieberman, Yaron Ayalon, Avigdor Levy, Vera B. Moreen, Meira Polliack, Angel Saenz-Badillos and, and Daniel Schroeter. Accessed August 3, 2022. https://referenceworks.brillonline.com:443/entries/encyclopedia-of-jews-in-the-islamic-world%252Fisfahan-COM_0011660.
3. Gharipour, “2014 Architecture, Culture, and Spirituality Symposium,” 3.
4. Gharipour, Mohammed. “Kanisa-Yi Mushi Hajaisfahan, Iran.” Archnet. September 2017. https://www.archnet.org/sites/18596
5. Gharipour, “2014 Architecture, Culture, and Spirituality Symposium,” 3.
6. Gharipour, “Kanisa-Yi Mushi Hajaisfahan, Iran.”
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Moreen, ‘Isfahan’.
10. Gharipour, “2014 Architecture, Culture, and Spirituality Symposium,” 3.
11. Gharipour, “Kanisa-Yi Mushi Hajaisfahan, Iran.”
Works Cited
Gharipour, Mohammed. “Kanisa-Yi Mushi Hajaisfahan, Iran.” Archnet. September 2017. https://www.archnet.org/sites/18596.
Gharipour, Mohammad. “2014 Architecture, Culture, and Spirituality Symposium.” In The Question of Identity: The Architecture of Synagogues in Isfahan, Iran, 1–4. Toronto, ON: 2014 Architecture, Culture, and Spirituality Symposium, 2014. http://www.acsforum.org/symposium2014/papers/GHARIPOUR.pdf.
Vera B. Moreen. ‘Isfahan’. In Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World, edited by Norman A. Stillman, Phillip I. Ackerman-Lieberman, Yaron Ayalon, Avigdor Levy, Vera B. Moreen, Meira Polliack, Angel Saenz-Badillos and, and Daniel Schroeter. Accessed August 3, 2022. https://referenceworks.brillonline.com:443/entries/encyclopedia-of-jews-in-the-islamic-world%252Fisfahan-COM_0011660.
Coordinates via M.G. and the Isfahan Synagogues Project
Image Gallery
For more images of the site, visit: https://www.archnet.org/collections/1535