The Synagogue

The Synagogue, also called "Schola" by the Jewish Community, was the place where they met for assemblies and prayers. It used to be situated in the house of a wealthy Jewish person, who had made it available to the community for the purpose of rites and prayers.
Initially, the place could be reached from all Ghetto dwellings, though it was not to be seen from the outside. The Synagogue overlooked a large courtyard, that could be reached by a flight of stairs leading to the school and to the matroneum, a separate women's section located on a balcony where Jewish women could attend functions.
In the basement there used to be an oven where the Community could bake their unleavened bread and a room for Jewish water immersion rituals.
On the mezzanine floor there is a classroom where the Jewish Community educated their children, teaching them how to read Hebrew and Italian, at a time when ignorance and illiteracy were still widespread.
The Prayer Hall, which is reserved for men aged 13 and over, has 80 seats with small book stands.
All synagogues are oriented in the same way: the Torah Ark facing towards Jerusalem, just like the cabinet containing the Torah scrolls, which are named the "Sefer Torah". It also holds the two tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments. In front of it lies the "tevah", a desk where the Torah scroll is placed to be read, the balustrade and the "menorah", the sacred seven-branched candelabrum.
To the right of the Ark there is the wooden seat of the Rabbi while to its left a door leading to his small study room. On the left side, just under the pulpit, the Jewish Community set a cannon ball in the wall. It was launched by the Austro-Russians during the siege to the town and hit the Synagogue on 7th November 1799.
On the ceiling of the Prayer Hall there are three chandeliers, one being gilt bronze, while on the walls there are rose-shaped fresco paintings and inscriptions in Hebrew. Several commemorative plaques in honour of some of the Jews who lived in Cuneo - like Lelio Della Torre, Lea Cassin, Emanuel Cassin and David Vita Lattes, among others - stand out on the walls along the staircase leading to the Temple
The facade of the building dates back to 1884 when the renovation was completed after the Jewish emancipation, which was established by the Statuto Albertino (Emancipation Decree). The front of the Synagogue has two side lesenes, or pilaster strips, and Corinthian style capitals. At the top of the facade we can read a verse from the Book of Exodus in Hebrew, which says: "And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. " The outside is completed with two wooden doors, above which there are two rows of two and three windows
On the ground floor the "Davide Cavaglion Library and Study Center" on the Jewish Communities in Piedmont was opened in 2010.