Synagogue - World's Oldest Synagogues

World's Oldest Synagogues

• The oldest Samaritan synagogue, the Delos Synagogue dates from between 150 and 128 BCE, or earlier and is located on the island of Delos.
• The Jericho Synagogue, the oldest, securely dated, mainstream Jewish synagogue in the world was built between 70 and 50 BCE at a royal winter palace near Jericho.
• The oldest synagogue fragments are stone synagogue dedication inscriptions stones found in middle and lower Egypt and dating from the 3rd century BCE.
• The 2nd and 3rd century CE Dura-Europos synagogue in Syria is better preserved than other, older synagogues that have emerged from archaeological digs.
• The Paradesi Synagogue is the oldest synagogue in the Commonwealth of Nations, located in Kochi, Kerala, in India. It was built in 1568 by the Malabar Yehudan people or Cochin Jewish community in the Kingdom of Cochin. Paradesi is a word used in several Indian languages, and the literal meaning of the term is "foreigners", applied to the synagogue because it was historically used by "White Jews", a mixture of Jews from Cranganore, the Middle East, and European exiles. It is also referred to as the Cochin Jewish Synagogue or the Mattancherry Synagogue. The synagogue is located in the quarter of Old Cochin known as Jew Town and is the only one of the seven synagogues in the area still in use.
• Old New Synagogue in Prague is the world's oldest active synagogue and therefore also the oldest synagogue still in use in Europe.
• Jew's Court, Steep Hill, Lincoln, England is arguably the second oldest synagogue in Europe in current use.
• Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue, Recife, Brazil is the oldest synagogue in the Americas.