Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue

Gostling & Morris

1884

Photograph of building façade with significant decorative trim on window frames and beams.
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Kneseth Eliyahoo was endowed in honor of Baghdad-born Eliyahoo (Elias) David Sassoon (1820–1880), son of textile magnate David Sassoon (1792–1864), by Elias’s sons. The synagogue was constructed in Mumbai’s Fort neighborhood and designed with a British neoclassical exterior and classical revival interior. The synagogue is noted for its imported Victorian stained-glass windows, Minton tile floors, cast-iron column supports, and a reader’s platform oriented toward the Torah Ark on the western wall. The synagogue building housed a social hall, classrooms, offices, and mikveh on the ground floor, and the double-height upper floor held the sanctuary. Although most Jews in India were either native Bene Israel and Cochin or Iraqi immigrants, the Sassoons (of Baghdadi Jewish background) hired David Gostling and James Morris to build a synagogue that reflected their Western orientations and loyalties. The synagogue was originally painted an indigo blue but has since been repainted in a much brighter blue.

Credits

Anil Dave / Alamy Stock Photo.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 7.

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Photograph of building exterior with five columns.
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Related Guide

Synagogue Architecture

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Synagogues built in Europe in the age of Emancipation had somewhat contradictory goals. On the one hand, they were to articulate a proud Jewishness, which by definition meant a distinctive style. On the other hand, they wanted to announce that they were deeply embedded in the European cityscape.

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