AT A GLANCE

Why go?

Tucked into the narrow lanes of Rhodes's old Jewish quarter, the Kahal Shalom Synagogue is the oldest surviving synagogue in Greece. Built in 1577 by Sephardic Jews who had fled Spain, its serene interior—paved with black-and-white pebble mosaics, adorned with religious wall paintings, and centered around a reading table that faces toward Jerusalem—offers a rare window into the centuries-long Jewish presence on this Aegean island.↗↗↗

Today, the small community that keeps the synagogue alive numbers barely three dozen, yet visitors from around the world make the pilgrimage to this modest building at the crossroads of Dosiadou and Simiou Streets. Adjacent rooms house the Jewish Museum of Rhodes, and a plaque in the courtyard preserves the family names of 1,673 Rhodian Jews deported to Auschwitz in July 1944. The site is a quiet, powerful place where history is felt in stone and pigment rather than spectacle.↗↗↗