Until World War II, 32 active synagogues and 26 institutions dedicated to Torah studies were located in Thessaloniki. Usually, the names of the synagogues were indicative of the origins of their members. In 1531, there were 28 communities and an equal number of synagogues that had a certain autonomy and remained in function until 1917, even though they had to be rebuilt over the centuries. The Great Fire destroyed a considerable number of them, and as mentioned before, the urban redesign of the city relocated the synagogues to the eastern and western districts of Thessaloniki. Synagogues and the Jewish religion would no longer be a major feature of central Thessalοnιki.