THE
GALLERIES
Until
the merger with Temple Emanu-El, it was customary that the women sit in
the galleries upstairs. Today there are three interconnecting galleries:
the northern and southern ones for the ladies, and the western one for
the organ and the choir. The galleries, each supported by two columns (page
31), are 41/2, meters above the ground floor. There are two rows of benches
along the complete length of the two, meter-wide lateral galleries; the
back row is elevated, theater-style, on a pedestal. The western balcony
is semi-circular: 3 meters at its center and 4 1/2 meters at its widest,
where it joins the lateral galleries. Like its parent in Amsterdam, the
original 1732 balustrade was latticed to conceal the women from the sight
of the men downstairs. The present balustrade is similar, but not identical
to the balustrade of the TEBAH. It probably dates back to 1866 when two
galleries were added and major renovations were made to the interior of
the building to accommodate the organ.
There
is no doubt that the southern gallery is a 1732 original. There are strong
indications, however, that the northern gallery (the one above the BANCA)
might be of a later date - probably even 1866 when the western gallery
was constructed to hold the newly acquired organ. Several facts support
this assumption:
Firstly:
Although our parent ESNOGA of Amsterdam has two women’s galleries (as we
now have), there is no interconnecting gallery or passageway between them.
Each is reached independently by its own staircase in the corner at the
back of the building. Although our SNOA is modeled after Amsterdam’s, we
could find no hard evidence of the existence of a northern staircase until
the one built in 1894. Nor could we find evidence of any kind of a passageway
from one gallery to the other along the western wall.
Secondly:
The seating capacity of Amsterdam is at least four times greater downstairs
than upstairs. Why would Curaçao have needed a ratio of almost 2
to 1 (400 to 200) when it was built in 1732?
Thirdly:
Some of the details mentioned in the two invoices of Thomas Chapman (the
architect in charge of the interior renovations to prepare for the newly
acquired organ), the kind and quantity of building materials used, the
amount of time it took to complete the project (eight months), all indicate
that the 1866 renovations could have been more than just the construction
of a 13-meter gallery, the moving of the central chandeliers, and several
other minor items.
Fourthly:
Research on the anteroom located at the entrance to the northern gallery,
reveals that its construction is not the same as that of the rest of the
building. Further, that the room must have been built after 1732, but before
1894, as silver plaques attached to the doors leading into the gallery,
contain the engraved date of 1892: that is two years before the northern
staircase was built. We suppose that this anteroom was built at the time
of the 1866 renovations and that, because of its dimensions, it could have
been used as a meeting room for the CONSEJOS before it became a passageway
after the 1894 staircase was built.
Lastly:
The 1974 restoration uncovered some facts about the galleries that were
unexplainable at the time. Based upon the results of the investigations
conducted to determine the safety and feasibility of continuing to use
the galleries, it was decided to replace the sagging wooden support beams
of both lateral galleries with concealed steel girders encased in wooden
moldings identical to the original beams. Having dismantled the galleries,
it was found that the connections between the cross beams and the main
support beam of the northern gallery were completely different from those
on the opposite side of the building. It was obvious that the northern
gallery had either been built or rebuilt after the original construction
of the building. Furthermore, the state of deterioration of the southern
beam was much worst than that of the northern one (RDLM).
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The Building Begins | Construction of Our "Snoa" |
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