Tour the major Jewish landmarks in Bucharest and learn the story of the Jewish habitation in Bucharest and Romania with your personal guide.
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Overview

The Jewish history in Bucharest is as old as the city itself. Toward the turn of the 20th century Jews formed an important part of the city’s population, as much as 11 percent in the 1930’s. The once large Jewish community was scattered following the tragedies of the WWII, the hardness of the communist regime and the emigration to Israel.

In the 1980s, in the last years of communist regime, most of the former Jewish Quarter was destroyed as result of a massive urban systematization project, when the area was literally wiped off to make way for the new Civic Center. Three beautiful synagogues and the iconic Jewish Theater are surviving vestiges of the lost Jewish Quarter, in what is now a run-down, disrupted area left after the 1980s demolitions.

Learn about all this and much more during this private Jewish tour, when we visit the most important Jewish sites in Bucharest that include three stunning synagogues.

If you have a more personal interest regarding the Jewish tour, please let me know. I can try to help you in identifying specific sites, or research in cemetery registers / identify family graves, prior to your arrival.

Highlights

• • The Great Polish Synagogue, major landmark of Bucharest’s Jewish Quarter, currently serving as a museum (visit)
• • The Holocaust Museum (set up inside the Great Synagogue)
• • The Choral Temple (visit; the main synagogue in Bucharest and Romania, where morning and evening services are held every day; considered one of the most beautiful synagogues in the world, recently reopened following thorough restoration works)
• • The State Jewish Theater ‘Baraseum’, one of the few Yiddish-language theaters left in Europe (we see it from exterior; it is possible to visit it inside with prior arrangements)
• • The Holy Union Temple (“Ahdut Kodesh”), today serving as The History Museum of the Romanian Jews 

Tour Information

DURATION
about 4 hours

ACTIVITY LEVEL
Light -most of the Jewish objectives are within short walking distance, but if necessary/convenient we could use the car to move between sites

PRICE
120 EUR/tour/1-2 people
150 EUR/tour/3-4 people

WHAT IS INCLUDED
– guiding services
– hotel pick-up and drop-off
– private transportation by 2017 Volkswagen Golf, air-conditioned

EXCLUSIONS
20 Lei/person the admission fee at the Choral Temple; 20 Lei/person the admission fee at the Great Synagogue.

ADD ONS
It is possible to visit Filantropia Cemetery, Bucharest’s Ashkenazi Jewish cemetery, impressive testimony to what was once a thriving and dynamic Jewish community (+30 EUR) 

Reminders
The Choral Tempe and the Great Synagogue are closed for visitors on Saturdays and Sundays.

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Program/What to Expect 

First stop at the Great Polish Synagogue, once the center of the local Jewish community’s religious and social life. The Great Synagogue shelters the Holocaust Museum, documenting about pogroms, deportations and sufferings inflicted on the Jews in Romania during wartime.

Then, short walk to the Jewish State Theater, known as Baraseum Theater. I will explain about the history and importance of Baraseum Theater, inheritor of a long and tradition of Yiddish-language theater in Romania.

Next, visit the old Tailor’s synagogue, currently home to the History Museum of the Romanian Jews. The museum various artifacts, documents and other exhibits on display explain about the life and history of the Jews not only in Bucharest, but on the whole territory of present-day Romania. 

Your Bucharest Jewish Tour continues with a visit of the Choral Temple, an active synagogue again after years of careful restoration. The passionate guide of the synagogue will be glad to give you any further information about the present-day life of the Jewish community.

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To request a guided tour or get more information, please use the form below. I will answer asap, normally within a day. Thank you!