Paradesi Synagogue, Cochin, India

Built in 1568, the Paradesi Synagogue is the oldest synagogue in India, as well as in the entire British Commonwealth. The land on which it was built was a gift from the Rajah of Cochin, Paraja, so that the Jewish community could build a synagogue next to his palace. (Paradesi means “foreigners” in a number of Indian languages and in its earliest years, the synagogue served a community of Spanish and Dutch Sephardic spice dealers.) Its interior reflects the multicultural character of the international trade route on which it was located. The synagogue floor is paved with hundreds of eighteenth-century Chinese porcelain tiles. Belgian glass chandeliers hang overhead. The synagogue complex was destroyed by the Portuguese in the seventeenth century but was later rebuilt, along with its new and distinctive clock tower.