Bevis Marks Synagogue, Bevis Marks, London EC3

Bevis Marks Synagogue

1700-1701

Also known as the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, this has been called "the oldest and most splendid synagogue in Great Britain" ("300 years of Continuous Jewish Worship"). Tucked away just inside the city wall, it has a simple and elegant exterior. [continued below]

Bevis Marks, London EC3

Listed Building

Entrance

Interior, from Gaster, p. 83

Interior, from the 1889 Graphic

Photograph, caption, and commentary by Jacqueline Banerjee

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

The synagogue's equally elegant interior is spectacularly enhanced by seven brass chandeliers of Dutch origin, and a beautifully carved Renaissance-style Ark. It was built by Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal, and "bears a striking resemblance" to the Spanish and Portuguese Great Synagogue of Amsterdam (1675), which was its mother congregation ("300 years of Continuous Jewish Worship"). Talking about the Jewish population, Jerry White explains that in 1861 there were 2,300 "Hollanders" in this part of London (154).

The synagogue has barely changed over the years, but the ceiling "was altered apparently in C19" (Listing Text). One of its famous "sons" was Isaac d'Israeli, so among those whose births were registered here in the nineteenth century was the infant Benjamin Disraeli. In 1817, however, Isaac fell out with the synagogue's authorities and had the boy baptised at the historic Guild Church of St Andrew in Holborn — a move with profound repercussions for British politics, since Jews were excluded from parliament until 1858. In 1950, Bevis Marks became the first synagogue in the country to be Grade I listed. As the listing text says, it is of "exceptional historic interest."

Sources

"300 Years of Continuous Jewish Worship". Leaflet available at the synagogue.

Bevis Marks, EC3. Listed Buildings Online. Web. 5 Jan. 2011.

Gaster, Moses (Chief Rabbi). History of the Ancient Synagogue of Spanish and Portuguese Jews. London, 1901. Internet Archive. Web. 5 Jan. 2010.

White, Jerry. London in the Nineteenth Century: "A Human Awful Wonder of God." London: Cape, 2007. See particularly "The London 'Ghetto'" (152-9).

Last modified 31 October 2023

Links added 18 July 2021