Did you know
The synagogue and the Hindu temple of Mattancherry Palace share a wall.
Synagogue
Paradesi Synagogue
Hundreds of hand-painted blue-and-white Chinese tiles, no two alike.
220 m from Jew Town
Read the full story The Paradesi Synagogue: 450 Years of Spice, Prayer, and Hand-Painted Tiles in Mattancherry
More about Paradesi Synagogue
5- Did you knowParadesi means foreigner in Malayalam.
- Did you knowThe synagogue's Belgian glass chandeliers were imported in the 19th century.
- Did you knowThe synagogue floor is laid with hundreds of 18th-century Chinese porcelain tiles, hand-painted in blue and white. No two are the same.
- Did you knowAround 1000 CE a Hindu ruler granted a Jewish leader, Joseph Rabban, his own privileges — inscribed on copper plates. The plates are still kept inside the synagogue.
- Did you knowDuring the Portuguese plunder of Mattancherry's Jew's Town in 1662, the Jewish community hid its ancient Hebrew Pentateuch, or Torah scroll, to save it from destruction. After Dutch rule was established, they recovered it completely uninjured in 1668.