"It's a wealth without equal in France": in Alsace, the sale of a synagogue mobilizes heritage defenders

There is no doubt that, despite its discreet facade, this is certainly an "atypical property," as the real estate agency responsible for the sale of this 327 ^m² house on three levels, with two gardens, located in the heart of Rouffach, 15 kilometers south of Colmar (Haut-Rhin) assures us. For the tidy sum of 700,000 euros, the future buyer will come into possession of the only known medieval synagogue preserved in France and one of the oldest in Europe. The Erfurt synagogue, built in the ^11th century in Thuringia, became a museum in 2009 and was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023. The one in Prague, completed in 1270, is still in use.

Also read: Decisive patronage for the preservation of French Jewish heritage

Passionate about defending Alsatian Jewish heritage, Jean-Pierre Lambert was alerted to this sale by a member of the Jewish consistory of Colmar, which is struggling to maintain its two synagogues. The Strasbourg resident had visited it with its last owner, who died in January, an architect and decorator who had…