Religious tourism · Six countries
Discover synagogues and Jewish religious heritage across the Balkans. Explore the places and local stories preserved in our landmark guides.
Explore the sitesJudaism in the Balkans
Jewish life in the Balkans reaches back to Roman times, but it was the Sephardic Jews, expelled from Spain in 1492 and welcomed in Ottoman cities, who gave the region much of its Jewish character, along with the Ladino language.
In Sarajevo, the Old Synagogue now houses the Museum of the Jews of Bosnia & Herzegovina, and the city keeps the Sarajevo Haggadah, an illuminated medieval manuscript saved several times by people of different faiths. Dubrovnik’s synagogue, in a narrow street of the old town, is among the oldest in Europe still in use, and Maribor’s medieval synagogue in Slovenia is one of the oldest surviving on the continent.
Ashkenazi communities later built grand synagogues such as the Art Nouveau landmark in Subotica, while in Albania the tradition of besa, a sacred promise of protection, saved Jews during the Second World War. Although the Holocaust devastated these communities, their synagogues, cemeteries and museums keep the memory and the living culture of Balkan Jewry present today.
The Old Synagogue museum, Ashkenazi Synagogue and the Sarajevo Haggadah.
Two of Europe’s oldest synagogues on the Adriatic and in Slovenia.
A restored Art Nouveau synagogue, one of the most beautiful in Europe.
Places of faith. Stories of the region.
Make room for meaningful places
Combine sacred sites, city walks and cultural landmarks across the six countries. Tell us which traditions, places and stories you would like to explore.
Plan a Balkan journey2 published sites
Sarajevo
The Ashkenazi Synagogue in Sarajevo is the only active synagogue in the city and one of the most important examples of pseudo-Moorish architecture in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was built in 1902 for the Ashkenazi…
Saranda
The ruins of the Old Synagogue are located in the city of Saranda, in southern Albania, and represent one of the historical testimonies of the Jewish community in this region. This synagogue dates back to the early…
