El Ghriba Synagogue, Religious structure in Hara Seghira, Tunisia
El Ghriba Synagogue is a Moorish place of worship in Hara Seghira, Medenine Governorate, Tunisia. The interior shows blue columns and multicolored tiles while stained glass windows cast light into several prayer halls with wooden furnishings.
Priests from Jerusalem are said to have settled at this spot in the sixth century BCE and the building standing today arose in the 19th century. The newer structure replaced the earlier sixth-century one at the same location.
The name derives from the Arabic term for the marvelous and points to how the site is regarded within the North African Jewish community. Visitors today notice the maintained prayer rooms and how the place serves as a gathering point for families during religious festivals.
Visitors must show their passport at the security checkpoint before entering the compound roughly one kilometer south of the medina. The surroundings are quiet and the building sits away from busy streets.
The inner sanctuary holds a Torah scroll that scholars consider among the oldest in the world. Beside it rests a fragment said to come from Solomon's Temple and preserved through generations.
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