השילוב בין מזרח למערב: בתי הכנסת בסגנון אוריינטלי ו"איל קאל גראנדי", בית הכנסת הספרדי בסרייבו

Mirjam Rajner’s article aims to revisit Sarajevo’s Sephardic synagogue known as The Great Sephardic Temple (Il Kal Grandi), a grand yet little known, shortly-lived 20th century Balk an synagogue. Built between 1926 and 1930, in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital, then part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, it was the last such project before the outbreak of WWII in there gion. The article explores this synagogue’s oriental and specifically Sephardic identity, as well as the politics surrounding the decision to build it. Although built by Sarajevo’s Sephardic community, a number of Il Kal Grandi’s sociological, architectural and aesthetic choices,as the article argues, originate from the Ashkenazic German-speaking cultural sphere.German architects of the first half of the 19thcentury were the first to use the oriental style based upon the style of the Alhambra palace in order to stress Jewish oriental, non-European identity. The use of the very same style, along with the modern innovations, enabled the Sephardic community in Sarajevo to be part of the united (Ashkenazic and Sephardic) predominantly Zionist Yugoslav Jewry, while preserving its specifically Sephardic distinctiveness