Meir Taweig Synagogue

Baghdad, Yemen

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Meir Taweig Synagogue in the Bataween neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, was built between 1942 and 1946 as a major Orthodox Jewish synagogue and community hub for the city’s then-thriving Jewish population of around 150,000 people.

Named for Jewish businessman Meir Taweig, it housed a sanctuary, school, library, and community offices, and later underwent government-funded restoration in 1985 under Saddam Hussein after periods of unrest and persecution.

Now the last standing synagogue in Baghdad and largely inactive since the 2003 Iraq War, it remains a fading but important symbol of Iraq’s Jewish heritage, with a small number of caretakers trying to preserve its crumbling yet still impressive interior and history.​