Built by the Malabar Jews, it is a confluence of traditional Kerala and Jewish styles of architecture and is located on Paravur Jewish Street, around 26km away from Ernakulam city. A survivor of repeated attacks by the Dutch, the Portuguese and from Mysore over the ages, it is now known as the Paravur Synagogue Museum. Dating back to 1616 AD, the synagogue is one of the most complete such structures at present.
The original synagogue on top of which this has been built, goes back as far as 750AD or 1105AD. It is one of the oldest synagogues in the Commonwealth of Nations, apart from India. Laterite blocks and lime mixture form the walls, apart from the presence of sunlit courtyards, long corridors with wooden doors and stairs, and a two-room porch. Many sections are ingeniously connected to each other. There is the influence of the Portuguese in the design of the front hall.
The Kerala touch is mostly felt in the special stairs and seats made for women, the padippura (a type of frontal structure popular in Kerala) and the hanging lamps in the prayer room. The synagogue museum is a symbol of life that the Jewish settlements had in Kerala over the centuries.
