The Kemeraltı synagogues form the old city cluster of Jewish İzmir. Several stand close to one another around Havra Street, alongside traces of study, welfare, trade and everyday neighbourhood life.
- Area: Kemeraltı, the first Juderia
- Synagogues: nine historic synagogues
- Setting: around Havra Street, within the bazaar
- Nearby: the Rabbinate, the kortijos and Havra Street market
What connects them
Many of the Kemeraltı synagogues share local architectural features: a relationship between the prayer hall and a Midrash, a triple Ehal composition, and central-plan arrangements shaped by columns and the placement of the Tevah.
They also show how religious life and communal infrastructure were held together in the old quarter. A synagogue could be a place of prayer, learning, social authority, welfare memory and family continuity at the same time.
Around the synagogues
The cluster did not stand alone. Havra Street, named for its synagogues, was the community’s kosher food market. The nearby Rabbinate on Hahambaşı Street held the central library and yeshiva, and the Sephardi courtyard houses known as kortijos gave the quarter its daily life.
Read this area together with Jewish Quarters and the Rabbinic Library Archive.
Visiting
Kemeraltı heritage visits are coordinated in advance through the authorised visit route. Please read Contact IzmirJCC before planning to enter any synagogue; permission, security guidance and timing must be confirmed before arrival.
