Paradesi Synagogue was built in the year 1568, and it is the oldest active synagogue in the Commonwealth of Nations. It was preceded by an earlier one at Kochangai, built in 1344, which has since disappeared. The present building was destroyed by shelling during a Portuguese raid in 1662 and rebuilt two years later when the Dutch took over Cochin.
It’s an interesting little place with hand painted, willo-pattern floor tiles (no two alike) brought from Canton, China, in the mid-18th Century by Ezekial Rahabi who had trading interest in that city. He was also responsible for the erection of the clock tower which surmounts the building.
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