Patrik

Netherlands - 07-Jul-24 -

There is a bus from Paramaribo 3 or 4 times a week, leaving for Casipora at 8.30h. It passes right by the access road to the Jodensavanne and takes around 2 hours, including a shopping stop of about 20 minutes at a Chinese supermarket along the way.

The driver told me the return bus passes around 12.10h but when I left Jodensavanne at noon, the caretaker said the bus will only pass the police checkpoint, which is close to the bridge over the Suriname river. So I walked there, arriving around 12.20 and waited and waited until a car stopped around 12.50h and asked me where I am going, and took me back to Paramaribo.

I spent a bit over an hour which is enough for the site. I would have liked to spend a bit more time at the very hot and steamy little visitor center with interesting written texts on the Portuguese-Jewish community in Amsterdam, the Jewish communities in Paramaribo and also on Curacao, and the links between them.

The site consists of a Creole forest cemetery with mostly wooden grave markers, slightly dilapidated, a Portuguese-Jewish cemetery with quite elaborately carved lying gravestones and the ruins of the synagogue near the river, along with a few fundaments of houses. There are information signs with good information, so I would say a guide is not necessary.

When I left, the caretaker had appeared and collected the entry fee of 200 SRD (around €6) and advertised opening times were daily from 8 - 18h.

I quite enjoyed the site, the location by the river and the ride there, and I would have spent a little more time just to enjoy the place if I had known there will be no return bus anyway. Possibly an overnight stay in the indigenious village would have been pleasant and peaceful, there is a nice looking cafe too.

At the second location of this site, there should be another, older Jewish cemetery at Cassipora Creek which according to the website is visitable only by guided tour. It should be quite close to the police checkpoint but I did not pursue this further and I am not sure wether this location can be accessed by a foot path or by boat.

As for the justification of the inscription, well, it claims to be the "oldest Jewish synagogue of architectural significance" in America and as such I could I appreciate the place, even though to see unique or exceptional value in these remains seemed a bit of a stretch.

Zoë Sheng

1.50 Chinese-Canadian - 18-Jan-23 -

I may dislike religious sites in general but I'm extra negative about this one. It basically tries to show a "testament to Judaism in the Americas" which means that Jews came to the South Americas in the settler ages as seen by the founding year of the site: 1682. The synagogue remains are quite basic with mainly the ground bricks, steps and short remains of the walls to be seen. At one point it must have been a nice settlement away from the main that is now Paramaribo. It also contains a cemetery which are many large rectangles on the ground. If all religions would start to add locations for their cemeteries around the world it would be full of sites. So yes, Jewish settlement in this part of the world is pretty interesting but that's about it, I mean they have antique synagogues in the city too if I'm not mistaken.

Getting here is not difficult but obviously you need to arrange transportation. What I did and what you may want to do as well is combine this wit ha trip to or from the airport. It's only a bit east of the airport and Paramaribo is a long trip in and out if you are coming only for the settlement remains but it's still alright if you can't manage it for timing reason. My flight into Suriname arrived shortly before midnight and with the lengthy visa payment it wasn't until 1am to be at my hotel. So instead I arranged a taxi to take me to the Jodensavanne monument before dropping off at the airport. The bridge to the settlement is the only crossing over the Cassipora creek outside of the city and it's a solid bridge, maybe worth a look for a quick stop, too.