Cochin Jewish Synagogue │Paradesi Synagogue

Synagogue Ln, Jew Town, Kappalandimukku, Mattancherry, Kochi, Kerala 682002

Cochin Jewish Synagogue or the Paradesi Synagogue is the oldest active synagogue in the Commonwealth of Nations, located in Kochi, Kerala, in South India. Constructed in 1567, it is one of seven synagogues of the Malabar Yehudan or Yehudan Mappila 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 built by Sephardic or Spanish-speaking Jews, some of them from families exiled in Aleppo, Safed and other West Asian localities. It is also referred to as 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. The complex has four buildings. It was built adjacent to the Mattancherry Palace temple on the land given to the Malabari Yehuden or ” Yehuden Mappila” community by the Raja of Kochi, Rama Varma. The Mattancherry Palace temple and the Mattancherry synagogue share a common wall.

Objects of antiquity
The Paradesi Synagogue has the Scrolls of the Law, several gold crowns received as gifts, many Belgian glass chandeliers, and a brass-railed pulpit. It houses the 10th-century copper plates of privileges given to Joseph Rabban, the earliest known Cochin Jew. These two plates were inscribed in Tamil by the ruler of the Malabar Coast. The floor of the synagogue is composed of hundreds of Chinese, 18th-century, hand-painted porcelain tiles, each of which is unique. A hand-knotted oriental rug was a gift from Haile Selassie, the last Ethiopian emperor.The synagogue has an 18th-century clock tower, which, along with other parts of the complex, was restored between 1998 and 1999 under the direction of the World Monuments Fund.

Hebrew inscription at the Mattancherry synagogue
A tablet from the 1344 synagogue in Kochangadi in Kochi was installed on the outer wall of the Paradesi synagogue. The inscription states that the structure was built in 5105 (in the Hebrew Calendar) as “an abode for the spirit of God.”
Source : wikipedia 
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l-anYTzkfQ
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Visiting hours : The synagogue is open every day except Fridays, Saturdays and Jewish holidays.
Timings: forenoon – 10 am to 12 noon; afternoon – 3 pm to 5 pm.
Visitors are expected to enter the synagogue barefoot.