Oni Synagogue

Why go

The heritage record describes a square domed building of about 16 by 18 metres, faced entirely in limestone, with an arched porch on its east side; it cites local accounts that building began in 1891 with Greek masons, using white limestone brought by ox-cart from Sairme and Itsi. According to the national tourism administration, Rabbi Elia Amshikashvili, who had studied in Warsaw, brought the project to Oni, the Nobel brothers were among its backers, and the design resembles a Warsaw synagogue destroyed in the Second World War. In the 1920s, it relates, the rabbi and his family locked themselves inside when demolition was ordered, while Jewish and Georgian women surrounded the building, and it was not pulled down. It is a cultural monument of national importance.