Built by Jews from the town of Ohrid (Ohrida, Ahrida) in Macedonia, the Ahrida synagogue in the Balat quarter of Istanbul is the city’s oldest functioning synagogue. The exact date of  construction is unknown, because the original building was destroyed in the great fire of Istanbul in 1660, but it is believed to have been in the early fifteenth century, before the Ottoman conquest of the city in 1453. After the fire, the synagogue was completely rebuilt by 1709 and was renovated at later dates. Its present architecture reflects the influence of the Ottoma…