Jews emigrated from the Caribbean island of Curacao to this northern port city in 1827: Henríquez, Capriles, De Sola, Cardozo, and Seniorfamilies. David Abraham Senior bought a house in 1852 that was used as the local synagogue until the late 19th century. Sold to the state in 1986, after 1997, the landmarked structure has been a museum called Casa de Oración Hebrea (House of Jewish Prayers).
CEMETERY: The cemetery dates from 1832 when Joseph Curiel (1796-1886) established it for his 8-year-old daughter, Johevet Hannah Curiel, on land then outside the city and now on Zamora Street. Used mostly for non-Jewish burials now, fewer than thirty Jewish gravestones exist, those of the Fonseca, Chumaseiro, Capriles, Maduro, and the Curiel families, and a possibly Polish woman from the 1940s. The cemetery testifies to the community's assimilation. Most of Coro's small Jewish community of 168 emigrated after violent rioting. In 1970, the cemetery was restored by the Asociacion Israelita de Caracas. The locked cemetery keys are in the Museo de Arte Alberto Henríquez. A large Mogen David markes the cemetery entrance. photos [May 2009]