Alternate names: Burgas [Bulg], Burgaz [Turk], Pirgos [Grk], Bourgas, Burghaz. 42°30' N, 27°28' E, on the Black Sea. 2011 population: 200,271. 1901 Jewish population: 641 Jews out of a total of 5,000. The former synagogue constructed in 1905-09, incorporates both neoclassical and Byzantine elements. In the 1960s the synagogue was transformed into a civic cultural center, the Petko Zadgorski Art Gallery. Announcement of a restoration project for the building in 2009 stated that it was actually the work of Austrian architect Friedrich Grunanger, who designed the Great Synagogue is Sofia. The small Jewish community in Burgas uses the building next door as its community center. Metropolitan Simeon St 24. Tel: +359 56/84-21-69
- Wikipedia. [Sept 2014]
CEMETERY:
Since 1600, a Jewish community was present in Burgas although just over 100 people constitute the community. On the road from the "sunny" beach resort, the still active Jewish cemetery is part of the municipal cemetery established at the end of the 19th century. Many gravestones were lost when an earlier cemetery was destroyed and the new location established. The present 0.2 hectare site contains approximately thirty visible gravestones dating from the 19th and 20th centuries. Within the municipal cemetery complex, the Jewish section boundaries are unmarked. Although maintained by a caretaker, water drainage is a constant problem. In the immediately cemetery sections are Armenian and Turkish heritage burials. Source: US Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad. [Sept 2014]