World Monuments Fund (WMF) is the leading independent organization devoted to safeguarding the world’s most treasured places to enrich people’s lives and build mutual understanding across cultures and communities. Through the World Monuments Watch, WMF collaborates with local partners to design and implement targeted conservation programs—including advocacy, planning, education, and physical interventions in the historic built environment—to improve human well-being through cultural heritage preservation.

One of the 25 projects selected for the 2022 World Monuments Watch is the Fabric Synagogue and Jewish Heritage of Timișoara in Romania which, led by route manager Ronald Wagmann, is part of the Jewish Heritage Route in Transylvania as part of the European Routes of Jewish Heritage certified by the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe.

The Western Romanian City of Timișoara

In a region straddling central and eastern Europe, the western Romanian city of Timișoara is known as a melting pot of people, cultures, and traditions. Among the groups that forged its multi-cultural identity during the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires, vibrant Jewish communities were vital contributors to the city’s development far into the twentieth century, establishing an important architectural and cultural legacy across the urban center. However, uprooted by World War II and mass emigration under communism, the once-sizeable Jewish community counts only 600 members today. Many fear that its legacy is under threat.

Renewing the Visibility of Local Jewish Heritage

With the city set to become the European Capital of Culture in 2023, the community is leveraging a unique opportunity to bring renewed visibility to local Jewish heritage. Efforts to map Timișoara’s diverse Jewish cultural and religious places are laying the groundwork for impactful storytelling of underrepresented histories. At the same time, the rehabilitation and reuse of the 1899 Fabric Synagogue can showcase the value of Jewish architectural heritage to contemporary city life.

The 2022 World Monuments Watch supports these efforts to protect and reinvigorate the memory of Jewish heritage places in Timișoara and promote local identity and social cohesion.