Engraved synagogue foundation plaque from Italy

This marble plaque commemorates the construction, restoration, consecration, or endowment of a synagogue, and was set into its walls as an enduring testimony. It belongs to the tradition of communal epigraphy. Italian plaques engrave the Hebrew date (often in the form of a chronogram, in which the numerical value of certain letters yields the year), the names of donors or community leaders, and an appropriate verse, all framed by moldings. Written in Hebrew, sometimes accompanied by Italian, they constitute precious sources for the history of communities and their buildings. This object inscribes collective Memory into the stone of the house of worship.