This has got to be one of the most wonderfully precious objet d'arts I've ever seen!

A little background information: This Tzedakah Box is a replica of the Scuola Grande Tedesca in Venice, Italy. Founded in 1528 by the German Ashkenazi community in Venice, the Scuola Grande Tedesca is the earliest of the five synagogues in the Venetian Ghetto. The islands that form the Ghetto Nuovo and Ghetto Vecchio were originally the site of the city’s metal foundry (“Geto de rame del nostro Comun”), from which the word ghetto is derived. In 1516 the Venetian government designated the neighborhood as a restricted and protected area for the Jews of many nations who worked and traded in Venice.

The Scuola Grande Tedesca occupies the fourth and fifth floors of a five-story building that today also houses the Jewish Museum of Venice (Museo Ebraico di Venezia). Despite later redecorations in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this house of worship has remained remarkably intact. The irregular plan of the preexisting space led the architect of the synagogue to employ certain elements to create an illusion of a rectangular room, such as the elliptical women’s gallery above that effectively masks the irregularity of the space. The walls are decorated with marmorino, a lime-based plaster that incorporates actual marble dust in order to imitate slabs of marble — an elegant, cost-effective, and structurally preferable alternative. Numerous carved wooden furnishings and architectural elements, many of which are gilded, further heighten the beauty of the sacred space.

Measurements: Base - 5 3/4" long, 6 1/2" wide & 1/2" high. Building - 5 1/8" long, 5 3/4" wide & 6 1/2" high. Plexiglass Base - 7" long, 7 1/4" wide & 3/16" high. The front & the sides each have a 1/2" high plexiglass barrier to keep the Tzedakah Box from moving about. The back Plexiglass panel is 10" high & 7" wide.

The battery compartment has been inspected & there's absolutely no sign of damage or corrosion.

In addition to the absolutely charming detail, this Tzedakah Box has an extra-special element: Put in a coin & watch the lights above the Ark come on! I just KNOW this little treasure is going to make a lucky someone VERY happy!!

Shipping will be via UPS. Always happy to answer questions, thanks for looking!