KOCHI: In what can be termed as a boost to heritage conservation efforts in the city, revenue department finally took over the over 600-year-old Kadavumbhagam Synagogue in Mattancherry and handed it over to archaeology department on Thursday.
Though the government had allotted funds for taking over the synagogue of Malabari Jews way back in 2016, the authorities took around five years to complete the acquisition process.
On Thursday afternoon, officials with the revenue department went to the site and took possession of the synagogue and 3.45 are of land which houses the structure.
Officials with the revenue department said they deposited the compensation amount with the court as some court cases are pending regarding the land owner availing of loans. The total compensation amount including the land value, solatium and interest comes to around Rs 1.05 crore.
According to professor C Karmachandran, a Jewish historian, the acquisition of the synagogue assumes much historic importance. “When the Jewish community had to leave their homeland centuries ago, India was a country which gave protection to them. It is in Muziris or Kodungallur that they settled first. As the Muziris port and surrounding areas were ravaged in the flood in 1341, the Jewish community who had settled there moved on to other parts of Kerala like north Paravur and Kochi. Some of the Malabari Jews from Kodungallur later constructed a synagogue in Mattancherry. That came to be known as the Kadavumbhagom synagogue,” Karmachandran said.
“It is believed to have been constructed in 1344. The Malabari Jews in Mattancherry went back to Israel in the 1950s. Then the synagogue was handed over to a Paradesi (white Jew). Later, the monument changed hands several times,” Karmachandran said.
Regina, the last owner of the land and the structure, had availed of loans from private money lenders and later from Punjab National Bank by mortgaging the land. Now, the amount deposited in the court will be given to the land owner, bank and the private money lenders as per the entitlements.
The structure has been in a dilapidated condition and may collapse anytime. The archaeology department had started measures to stabilise the structure in October 2020.
“Our plan was to construct a roofing which is totally detached from the synagogue’s structure so that it gets protection from rain. But, we couldn’t do it due to objection from local residents and Kochi Corporation,” an official with the archaeology department said.
A few local residents had raised objection to the acquisition by the government. Their main contention was that if the archaeology department takes over the synagogue as a monument, 300 metres surrounding the monument will declared construction-ban area and it will affect Mattancherry’s development.
But the archaeology department made it clear that there is no such restriction when the state archaeology department takes over a monument. “Still, some of the local money lenders and land sharks, who have an eye on the synagogue land, would try to demolish the existing structure. They had made such attempts earlier as well. So, the authorities should take urgent steps to protect the synagogue from such vested interests,” said Raphael Antony, secretary, International Forum for Cultural Heritage and Tradition.
