Oni Synagogue

The synagogue is the building that dwarfs everything else in Oni. It was put up in 1895 at the expense of the town's Jewish community, which at that time made up a substantial share of the population and handled most of its trade. In scale it comes after the synagogues of Tbilisi and Kutaisi.

It is built of local stone, with two square towers on the main facade and deep arched windows. The style is mixed — Byzantine arches, oriental detailing, elements of provincial classicism. Inside is a high hall with a women's gallery carried on wooden columns and a painted ceiling. The interior is modest, but the volume is startling for a small mountain town.

Jews lived in Racha for centuries, and the Oni community was considered one of the oldest in Georgia. In the second half of the 20th century, and particularly from the 1970s, most of it emigrated to Israel; the earthquake of 1991, which hit Oni hard, took away most of those who remained. The synagogue itself was damaged and was later restored with help from the diaspora.

Today the Jewish community of Oni amounts to a few families, but the building is not a museum piece: services are still held from time to time. Beside it lies the old Jewish quarter — houses with shopfronts on the ground floor, wooden balconies, narrow lanes dropping towards the Rioni. On the slope outside town is the old Jewish cemetery, its stones carrying inscriptions in both Georgian and Hebrew.

What makes this the most significant thing to see in Oni is precisely that it is a working building belonging to a community that has almost gone.