Former synagogue of Valdemārpils

The former Valdemārpils synagogue at 1 Ezera Street was built around 1830. The 19th-century Sasmaka synagogue complex consisted of a synagogue, a ritual slaughterhouse where a butcher slaughtered animals for consumption according to Jewish law, a ritual bath with a pool for spiritual purification, and a rabbi’s house. The synagogue complex, as a spiritual centre, ceased to function in July 1941. The building first became a storehouse for the belongings of the murdered inhabitants, and during the Soviet period it housed a recycling collection, a fruit and berry buying point, a grocery store and even a liquor store. In the second half of the 1990s, the Latvian Jewish community regained ownership of the synagogue complex. The synagogue building is now privately owned and has been developed as a new cultural space for exhibitions and events.