Museum leaders now hope the discovery will help to tell the story of the museumРІР‚в„ўs former life as a synagogue, when it sat in what was once a thriving Jewish quarter with a congregation of Sephardic Jews, many originally from the Iberian peninsula. In June last year the Victorian building, Moorish in style and built by Jewish cotton traders from Spain and Portugal, closed its doors for almost two years for an ambitious Р’Р€5m development project, partly funded by a National Lottery grant of Р’Р€2.89m in 2017. The local Jewish population moved away from the area in the 1970s, making the synagogue redundant, and it was given a new lease of life as the Manchester Jewish Museum in 1984.Р”В«ritainРІР‚в„ўs only Jewish museum outside London, it became home to more than 30,000 objects, from personal letters and photographs to Torah scrolls hidden from the Nazis during the second world war. The Grade II*-listed building, described by English Heritage as РІР‚Сљone of the highlights of Victorian Gothic architecture in the countryРІР‚Сњ, is the oldest surviving synagogue in Manchester. To find it in perfect condition felt really rewarding.РІР‚Сњ It was obvious a lot of time and effort had been spent placing the capsule all those years ago. РІР‚СљIt created a lot of excitement around the site.

РІР‚СљWe were taking extra care to remove the plaque but never imagined we would find something as old as the building still intact,РІР‚Сњ said Adam Brown, the site manager. Hidden deep within a cavity wall of the Manchester Jewish Museum, complete with its wax seal intact, lay a glass jar time capsule buried almost 150 years ago.Р”Р„s builders renovated the oldest surviving synagogue in Manchester they found the capsule buried next to the MuseumРІР‚в„ўs Ark, the chamber which houses the Torah scrolls, filled with synagogue papers, newspapers and some old coins.Р”В®arly synagogue minutes show records of the capsule being laid in the cornerstone of the original building around 1873.

Walls of time tabledit