Jewish community to renovate dilapidated Louny synagogue

The Jewish community in Teplice, north Bohemia, plans to renovate a dilapidated synagogue in the town of Louny, the Czech News Agency reported on Saturday. It has just had the buried cellar beneath the building cleared to see whether it contains water that would cause decay but no water was found.

This means that renovation can go ahead and the building could be open to the public in a few years, the head of the Teplice Jewish community said.

The synagogue was completed in 1871. It was closed down by the Nazis and then used for various purposes under the Communist regime. The state returned it to the Jewish community 20 years ago.