Chance for Revival – Synagogue in Subotica

Abstract

Research presented in this paper considers the problem of the Synagogue restoration in Subotica, built in 1902, which has been deprived of its basic function, left without financial means for maintenance due to the changes in the social, economic system and great changes in the population structure during the First and Second World War. Lack of financial resources, poor interest for the building and Balkan wars in nineties caused that the restoration works on the synagogue were performed partially, where often several construction seasons had to elapse before the next works were undertaken. This resulted also in decay of those parts of building that have already been restored or conserved earlier. Today it seems that there is a solution to complete the restoration and revitalization works of a synagogue, building that was four times on the World Monuments Watch list and in 2014 listed among"7 Most Endangered monuments" by Europa Nostra programme. The primary objective of this paper is to highlight the importance of a continuous process of maintenance and conservation to preserve building heritage, which has to actively involve all levels from government to the citizens and their initiatives.

Teškoće U Procesu Restauracije Spomenika Kulture Na Primerima U Subotici

“…It would be unrealistic to expect that situation would be any different in the field of protection and revitalization of architectural heritage. Providing that economic problems and gap between the rich and the poor are ever increasing, while social and health care become less and less accessible, cultural monuments remain side-lined, as their protection is still carried out under the Law 3 Contractors to carry out the works on the buildings that represent protected cultural monuments are selected by the procedure of public tendering and out of at least three received bids, as is the case with any other building. In application of materials, another important factor is the social changes in Serbia, which result in transition.…”

“…However, the faculties of architecture, and especially those of civil engineering, often fail to provide courses that deal with the protection of architectural heritage. Future conservators are trained in restoration and conservation tasks during their work in the institutions of protection, and their insufficient initial knowledge, as well as their unwillingness to further expand their expertise, frequently present the main reason that lead to cultural monuments not being restored or conserved, but rather reconstructed, redesigned, upgraded, demolished and then rebuilt [3], or demolished at their original location only for their replicas to be built elsewhere by using contemporary materials.…”