THE MOSAIC OF THE ANCIENT SYNAGOGUE OF AEGINA

English

The event was organized in collaboration with the Eforate of Antiquities of Piraeus and the Islands of the Ministry of Culture and Sport and under the auspices of the Municipality of Aegina.

The event was attended by the Minister of Rural Development, Makis Voridis, along with his wife Danae Michelakou Voridis, Deputy Mayor Nikos Economou, who saluted the event on behalf of Mayor Dimitris Mourtzis, Daniel Benardout representative of the Central Board for Jewish Communities of Greece on behalf of the president David Saltiel and Gabriel Negrin Chief Rabbi of Athens.

Speakers at the event were Dr. Stella Chrysoulaki, Director of the Eforate of Antiquities of Piraeus and the Islands, the architect Dr. Elias Messinas who curated the exhibition and Yvette Nahmia Messinas coordinator of the Friends of the Mosaic campaign.

The exhibition will remain open until August 24 and will be open and accessible to the public during Museum opening hours.

The mosaic of Aegina belonged to an ancient synagogue of the 4th century CE. It was discovered in the 19th century near the Hidden (Naval) Port. It was later moved to the Archaeological Museum grounds, near the archaeological site of Kolona, where it can be seen today. In the original site Hotel Avra was built in the early 1960s.

The mosaic is a very important monument to the story of the Jewish presence in Greece - a Greek-speaking community living in Greece since antiquity. The mosaic is also an important monument to the island of Aegina, as it may contribute to stimulating tourism and support the local economy.

More information can be found on the Aegina Mosaic website or on the ECOWEEK website .
The site includes a drone video showing the location of the mosaic.

A brief history of the Mosaic of Aegina

In the 3rd century CE populations from Athens and Corinth - among them the Jewish communities - fled to Aegina to avoid pirate raids inland. Circa 300-350 CE the Jewish community built a synagogue near the Hidden (Naval) Port near the location of Colona. The Jewish settlement was in the center of the ancient city of Aegina. The community was engaged in purple-dyeing and tanning. Apparently, it was prosperous enough to afford to collect donations to build a magnificent synagogue with a high quality mosaic of geometric figures. The synagogue was in use until the 7th century CE, when the community fled to the more protected Paleochora with the rest of the island's population. There they will establish a new synagogue among the dozens of churches still standing in Paleochora. The location remains unknown. According to published sources, an inscription indicating the existence of a synagogue was found, but its traces have been lost. At this point, also the traces of the community are lost.

In 1829 the German archaeologist Ludwig Ross, the first professor of archeology at the University of Athens founded by King Otto, discovered the mosaic, which was still preserved almost intact near the naval port. The mosaic contained two inscriptions in Greek, referring to Theodoros the Archysynagogos who built the synagogue 'from its foundation'. The mosaic was studied by other archaeologists, and in 1928 the Israeli archaeologist Eleazar Lipo Sukenik came to Aegina to study the mosaic.

In 1932 the American archaeologist Belle Mazur, under the guidance of German archaeologist Franz Gabriel Welter, assistant at the Department of the German Archaeological Institute of Athens, continues the excavations revealing the apse on the eastern wall of the synagogue. The apse is a significant element of the synagogue. This is where the community would traditionally keep the Torah Scrolls, and where the elderly of the community would seat during services, as a sign of honor, as required by the laws for the use of the synagogue. In the 1960s with the reconstruction of Aegina, the mosaic was transferred to the courtyard of the Archaeological Museum, and Avra Hotel was built in its site.

Today, sixty years later, an initiative is underway to conserve and protect the mosaic, which has eroded over the years. The mosaic pieces (tesserae) have been detached and remain exposed to rain and resin from the pine trees around it.