Baghdad's Shrine of Rabbi Isaac Gaon restored after decades of neglect - in pictures

Labourers are working tirelessly to revive the long-faded heritage of Iraq's Jewish community

• 

  Iraqi workers restore the shrine of the the 10th century Jewish Rabbi Isaac Gaon in central Baghdad's Al Kifah neighbourhood. All photos: AFP

• 

  Labourers repair the centuries-old shrine of the revered rabbi in an effort to revive the long-faded heritage of Iraq's Jewish community

• 

  A security guard opens the door of the Meir Taweig Synagogue in the Baghdad's Bataween district

• 

  The interior of the Meir Taweig Synagogue

• 

  Menorah candlesticks on the bimah (reading dais) of the Meir Taweig Synagogue

• 

  Iraq's Jewish community was once one of the largest in the Middle East, but it has now dwindled to just dozens

• 

  A picture of Dr Dhafer Fuad Eliyahu, who died in 2021 and was one of the last remaining Jews in Baghdad, on the wall of the Meir Taweig Synagogue

• 

  Baghdad today has one synagogue left, and many houses that once belonged to Jews are abandoned and dilapidated

Iraq's Jewish community was once one of the largest in the Middle East, but it has now dwindled to just dozens. In the gallery above, Iraqi workers can be seen restoring the shrine of the the 10th century Jewish Rabbi Isaac Gaon in central Baghdad's Al Kifah neighbourhood.