With the support of the Edmond J. Safra Foundation, the Jewish Heritage Program is restoring seven historic sites across France
In 2025, the Edmond J. Safra Foundation partnered with the Fondation du patrimoine to launch an ambitious program dedicated to preserving and restoring remarkable sites connected to Jewish history in France. This initiative builds on the Foundation’s longstanding commitment to safeguarding French Jewish heritage, reflected in landmark projects such as the Maison Sublime in Rouen, the Maison Rachi in Troyes, and the Beit Yacov Synagogue in Clermont-Ferrand.
The program represents a new chapter of this support to the French Jewish community by expanding efforts to protect, revitalize, and transmit Jewish heritage across France for future generations.
These first seven projects mark the initial phase of the program, with additional sites to be selected in the coming years through further open calls.
The first sites selected for restoration illustrate the richness, diversity, and resilience of this heritage are:
- Metz Synagogue – Inaugurated in 1850, this neo-Romanesque landmark stands as a powerful symbol of Jewish life in eastern France. Following a complete renovation, it reopened in November 2025 as both a place of worship and a vibrant cultural space.
- Colmar Synagogue – With Jewish life in Colmar dating to the 13th century, this synagogue was built in 1843 in a neoclassical style. This historic monument remains the seat of the Jewish community and Chief Rabbinate of Haut-Rhin, at the heart of regional Jewish life.
- Nantes Synagogue – With Jewish life in Nantes dating back to the 5th century, this synagogue, inaugurated in 1870, regularly attracts worshippers from across the surrounding region.
- Elbeuf Synagogue – Constructed in 1909, this synagogue suffered during World War II and had fallen into disuse by the 1990s. With this major renovation, the synagogue will again become a centre for cultural and religious life.
- Toul Synagogue – Built in 1862, its distinctive Moorish-style facade makes it architecturally unique. It stands as a testament to 19th-century Jewish presence in the region.
- Belfort Jewish Cemetery – Restoration efforts will focus on the chapel and fifty of the cemetery’s tombs, including that of Heyman Picard, a Jewish leader appointed by Napoleon in 1806 to the Assembly of Jewish Notables, as well the grave of the brother of Captain Alfred Dreyfus.
- Baucaire Building, L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue – One of the last surviving examples of civil architecture in the former Jewish quarter, this unique U-shaped structure reflects the constraints once imposed on Jewish communities, designed to allow light into homes while prohibiting openings to the outside.
Together, these projects preserve architectural heritage and bring to life centuries of history, memory, and identity embedded across France, inviting new generations to discover and engage with this remarkable legacy.
