A Jewish group is to sell its Dundee base and move to St Andrews as it cannot afford to maintain its synagogue.
The Tayside and Fife Jewish Community has placed its St Mary’s Place synagogue on the market with estate agent Graham and Sibbald.
The religious group moved into the building, designed by local architect Ian Imlach, in the 1970s.
Over the years the building has required regular work to maintain it, with the roof a particular problem, and it has cut into the cash reserves.
The Jewish community is also smaller in Dundee now, than in recent years.
Paul Spicker, chairman of the community, said: “The synagogue is currently in use but not as frequently as it was due to diminishing numbers of Jewish people in Dundee.
“We have services there but we have also invited primary school children to the synagogue to learn about Judaism and to see the objects inside.
“It is more expensive to maintain the synagogue than the amount of money that we are getting in.
“We are aware that we are coming to the point where we cannot run the building anymore.
“There have been long-term problems, like the roof, which need regular repairs but we have managed to go on longer than we thought we would.”
The Tayside and Fife Jewish Community is the current name of the former Dundee Hebrew Congregation that was established in 1878.
It was originally based on Wellgate but its building was demolished to make room to build the Wellgate Centre. This prompted the move to St Mary’s Place.
Offers for the property had to be submitted by Thursday and the group, which has declined to state the asking price, is considering several.
Mr Spicker said: “We will move to the University of St Andrews to carry on as there are more Jews in that area.
“The next nearest synagogues for people are in Edinburgh to the south and Aberdeen to the north.
“It is a wrench to be leaving Dundee but we want to keep on inviting school children to visit us to promote Judaism in the wider community.”
