Nidhe Israel Synagogue, Bridgetown (must see)

The Nidhe Israel Synagogue is the only synagogue on the island and one of the oldest in the western hemisphere. It was built in 1654. Jews left Dutch Brazil to avoid persecution from the Portuguese and settled on the island. They were skilled in the sugar industry and introduced the sugar crop to Barbados, teaching their skills to the local land owners.

The Barbados Jewish community grew over the years as other settlements dissolved. One group came from Cayenne, French Guana, in 1664, and another from Suriname in 1674. They gathered in two communities on the island, the largest being in Bridgetown, where 54 out of 404 households were Jewish.

The building has gone through many phases. Like other buildings on the island, hurricanes have damaged it over the centuries. It was destroyed by one in 1831 and rebuilt afterward. Unfortunately, it fell into disrepair until it was sold in 1929.

The building was modified, with the upper gallery being converted to a full second level. Over the years, the building changed hands several times until 1983, when the government seized it. The plan was to bulldoze the site and build a new courthouse, but petitioning from the local Jewish community resulted in it being handed over to the Barbados National Trust.

A full renovation began in 1986, and the building returned to being a synagogue. Archaeologists discovered a mikveh on the site of the former rabbi's house in 2008. A mikveh is a ritual bath, and it was constructed over a still-running freshwater spring.

The Nidhe Israel Museum opened in 2008 to tell the story of the Jewish communities on the island and their histories.