Fodor's Expert Review Vidin Synagogue

There are fewer than 1,000 Jews living in Bulgaria now, and most of them in Sofia, but at one time Vidin had a sizeable Jewish population who came mostly from Spain in the late 15th century. This neo-Gothic synagogue opened in 1894 and at the time was considered a very grand structure, with stained-glass windows and intricate stonework. The then-Communist government seized the building during WWII and began restoration in 1983, until the collapse of the regime government left the synagogue without a roof. Though there's been talk by the Ministry of Culture of repairing the synagogue and turning it into a museum, the site remains an abandoned ruin. Though it's a shell of the grand building it once was, it remains a small but important slice of Vidin's history.