Where is that ?
1- It is located behind the hanging church in the area of Kasr El_Shamea .... wax palace .. in old Cairo on the ruins of the old Roman fortress .
2- On its wooden door was engraved in Hebrew that it was built in 336 B.C of Alexander the Great before the destruction of Jerusalem and this church contained a copy of prophet Ezra .
3-It has many names like temple of Ben Azra .
4-There are document dates back to the reign of Sultan Ashraf Qaitbay who ruled Egypt in 738 this document mentions some restoration took place in the synagogue .
5- Scholars mentioned that the origin of synagogue was a Coptic church of Saint Michael and was bought by the Jewish in the name of Michael the 56th patriarch at the end of the 9th century .
6- Many historians talked about this synagogue Benjamin who came from Spain in 1169 wrote in his work book that he visited a place in Old Cairo called the synagogue where he found Ezra’s Torah which is a proof that prophet Moses lived in this area .
7- The taxes on the church in the reign of Ahmed Ibn Tulun was 20,000 dinars which was too much for the Copts to pay so Abraham Ibn Ezra who came to Egypt from Jerusalem in 882 A.D bought it .
Description of the synagogue
1- From the outside , it is a 2 story building .
2- Its Entrance is at the north end .
3- From the inside it is a rectangle 16.98 * 11.30 meters .
4- It is divided into 3 parts , the biggest is the middle one which is a basilica and its 4.75 m wide .
These parts divided by steel bars painted in marble like color .
5- The lector plot form is found in front of the sanctuary where the rabbi stands to read the Torah .
Its dimensions are 4.90 * 1.90 m .
It is an octagonal_shaped made of white marble while to 8th side opposite to this sanctuary has a copper fence on which the Torah and its rolls area to rest and the side opposite to this one faces the stairs leading to the sanctuary.
6- In front of the platform.
The memorial stela is found .
It is built higher than the surface of the floor and its dimensions are 2.50 * 1.40 m .
In the middle of which a higher part that consists of 2 semi _ arches carried on 3 pillars and its height is 8.5 m .
7- Between these 2 semi arches , there is a wreath of roses that goes back to the age of rococo and barok with the bright golden and on the columns we find 5 parted roses , above them 2 straight elements ending with the same roses .
8- While both side columns ends with bulb shape with a bar extending out of it .
9- The sides of the columns have a decorative shape twisting out word and ends with a hexagonal _ parted golden rose .
10 - The 2 rooms on each side of the holy ark measure 3.40 * 2.60 m , while in the sidewalls of the first floor there are 3 closets in the walls with wooden doors decorated with geometrical patterns like hexagonal stars made of ivory.
The second floor
1- Is reached by the staircase from outside the building and a corridor leads to the women’s door .
2- An aisle turns round 3 sides of the chapel and contains 5 columns made of steel , width of the aisle is 3.45 m .
The walls are decorated with hexagonal stars .
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