THE Government has paid all the restoration costs of the ancient Synagogue of Maimonides in Old Cairo, Culture Minister Farouq Hosni said on Tuesday, emphasising that Jewish religious sites are an integral part of Egyptian heritage and culture. Hosni dismissed as 'baseless' news reports claiming that 'some foreign agencies had financially supported the restoring of Moussa bin Maymoun Synagogue. "The Ministry, which began restoration of Jewish sites several years ago, bore all the costs for Moussa bin Maymoun Synagogue, which is an Egyptian monument," he said, adding that Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) has launched a comprehensive plan for restoring all of the nation's religious sites. The synagogue was named after Rabbi Moses Ben Maymoun, a famous physician, philosopher and Torah scholar who was born in Cordoba, Spain, in 1135AD. He eventually moved to Cairo, where he died in 1204 and was buried inside the synagogue. Egypt has 11 Jewish houses of worship. Some of them have already been restored, such as the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Old Cairo and the Shaar Hashamayim in downtown Cairo.
