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The Rabi­ Yehuda Halevy: The Physical and Conceptual Space of a Sephardic Synagogue in Mexico City

This thesis analyzes Rabi­ Yehuda Halevy synagogue, which Victor Babani designed and Francisco Canovas built from 1941 to 1942 in the Colonia Roma Sur of Mexico City. I focus on its formal characteristics, as well as its socio-historical context. I examine late-nineteenth century to mid-twentieth century life for Sephardic Jews in Mexico: their cause for immigration, experience in their new homeland, and relations with other Jewish groups and non-Jews in the city. I explore the use of style and iconography in the synagogue in relation to the history and prior employment of these architectural features. Defining "style" in the Rabi­ Yehuda Halevy demands an understanding of the employment of a particular formal language in the design of minority groups' architecture. The process of finding a style to portray national identity in Mexico was parallel to the Mexican Sephardim's use of architecture to articulate their own identity in the city.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/193233
Date January 2007
CreatorsDiSimone, Cori Beth
ContributorsWiddifield, Stacie G, Widdifield, Stacie G
PublisherThe University of Arizona.
Source SetsUniversity of Arizona
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext, Electronic Thesis
RightsCopyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.

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