site.btaJules Pascin Cultural Centre in Vidin Synagogue Renovated with Funding From EU

The synagogue in Vidin, which houses the Jules Pascin Cultural Centre, was renovated under the  Regions in Growth 2014 - 2020 Operational Programme, said Desislava Evgenieva, head of the project, on Wednesday.

The building is an immovable cultural asset of national importance which has not been used for its intended purpose since 1950, Evgenieva noted. For the implementation of the project, the building of the synagogue was donated to Vidin Municipality by the Shalom Organization of Jews in Bulgaria. The total value of the project amounted to over BGN 10 million. 

In September 2023, the synagogue was transformed into a cultural centre named after Jules Pascin (1885-1930), who was a Bulgarian artist born in Vidin. Since its opening, the cultural centre has generated significant interest, said Yuliana Dimitrova, Director of the Danube Municipal Cultural Institute, which manages the centre. There are about 14,000 visitors, with a quarter of them being foreign tourists, she added. Concerts, presentations of literary works, conferences, interviews and other presentations are also being organized.

"The White Swan of the Danube, as the Vidin synagogue was once called, has risen again", said Streya Puncheva, who is of Jewish origin. She thanked the municipal leadership for the implementation of the project, as well as the Shalom Organization of Jews in Bulgaria for donating the building to the Municipality. A meeting space for the Jewish community was set aside in the cultural centre, as stipulated in the donation contract. "We have a separate club where we can gather in the synagogue itself, although there are few Jews left in the city", noted Puncheva.

The cultural centre won the special award in the Social Infrastructure category at the national Building of the Year competition in 2023. The centre is also among the selected top five projects that will represent Bulgaria in the Regiostars competition.