JWST 7517 - [Saving Synagogues: Architecture, Historic Preservation and Communication]

(crosslisted) ARKEO 7517 , ARTH 6517
(CU-ITL)

Spring. Not offered 2017-2018. 4 credits. Student option grading.

Co-meets with ARKEO 4517/ARTH 4517/JWST 4517/NES 4517/RELST 4517.

S. Gruber.

For almost two thousand years the synagogue has been the focal point of Jewish life and identity. It has been the most prominent of Jewish buildings, for Jews and non-Jews. Thousands of synagogues have been built, but few synagogues are included in the traditional corpus of architectural history. Until recently, there was little systematic information on synagogue history, design and condition.

This course has three main interrelated themes: the architectural and design requirements of the synagogue and how these have been adapted and interpreted through time; the historic preservation and adaptive reuse of synagogues in Europe and America; and the use of synagogues as sites of memory either as memorials or museums commemorating the Holocaust in Europe or the American experience of immigration and acculturation.