FEATURED · VIENNA, AUSTRIALeopoldstädter Tempel
A monumental synagogue that made Jewish presence visible in the heart of nineteenth-century Vienna.
- Completed
- 1858
- Destroyed
- 1938
- Architect
- Ludwig Förster
- Style
- Moorish Revival
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FEATURED · DÜSSELDORF, GERMANYGreat Synagogue of Düsseldorf
Liberal main synagogue of Düsseldorf's Jewish community on Kasernenstraße, designed by Josef Kleesattel in Neo-Romanesque style and dedicated on 6 September 1904. Seating about 1,300, it was served by rabbis Leo Baeck and Max Eschelbacher. SA men wrecked and burned it on 9–10 November 1938.
- Completed
- 6 September 1904 (dedicated; built 1903–1904)
- Destroyed
- 9–10 November 1938 (burned); ruin demolished from 29 November 1938
- Architect
- Josef Kleesattel (executed design); an earlier proposal by Ludwig Paffendorf was not built
- Style
- Neo-Romanesque (Romanesque Revival), centrally planned with dome and corner towers
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FEATURED · ZABŁUDÓW, PODLASKIE VOIVODESHIP, POLANDWooden Synagogue of Zabłudów
Built around 1640 under a Radziwiłł privilege, the timber synagogue of Zabłudów near Białystok was among the oldest and most admired wooden synagogues of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, famed for its tiered roofs and carved bimah. Nazi German soldiers burned it in June 1941.
- Completed
- c. 1640 (women's section from 1646)
- Destroyed
- 1941
- Architect
- Unknown (craftsmen from Brest and Pinsk per tradition)
- Style
- Wooden synagogue, multi-tiered roof
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FEATURED · KAIFENG, CHINAKaifeng Synagogue
For nearly seven centuries, Kaifeng’s synagogue anchored a Judeo-Persian community that made Jewish tradition at home within Chinese culture.
- Completed
- 1163
- Destroyed
- c. 1850s–1860s
- Architect
- Unknown
- Style
- Chinese courtyard-temple architecture with Jewish liturgical features
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FEATURED · LIVORNO, ITALYOld Synagogue of Livorno
The Old Synagogue of Livorno, founded in 1603 and enlarged and embellished over two centuries, was the pride of Italy's freest Jewish community and was counted among the most beautiful synagogues in Europe. Allied bombing in 1943–44 wrecked it, and its ruins were cleared after the war; a new synagogue opened on the site in 1962.
- Completed
- 1603 (enlarged 1642; rebuilt c. 1700 and 1789)
- Destroyed
- 1944
- Architect
- Claudio Cogorano and Alessandro Pieroni (1603); Francesco Cantagallina (1642); Ignazio Fazzi (after 1742)
- Style
- Baroque interior; nineteenth-century façade
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FEATURED · SZERENCS, HUNGARYOrthodox Synagogue of Szerencs
The Orthodox synagogue of Szerencs, in the Tokaj wine region, was designed by the Miskolc architect Miksa Korach and begun in 1903. Its congregation was deported in 1944. The building stood derelict by 1963 and was demolished by the Communists in the mid-1970s.
- Completed
- c. 1903–1909
- Destroyed
- Mid-1970s
- Architect
- Miksa Korach (Miskolc)
- Style
- Eclectic with Art Nouveau gables
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FEATURED · GDAŃSK, POLANDGreat Synagogue of Danzig
Dedicated in 1887 on the Reitbahn in central Danzig, this domed, twin-towered synagogue by the Berlin firm Ende & Böckmann was the main house of worship of the city's newly unified Jewish community. After the community was forced to sell it to fund emigration, the Nazi-controlled city authorities began demolishing it in May 1939.
- Completed
- 1887
- Destroyed
- 1939
- Architect
- Ende & Böckmann
- Style
- Neo-Renaissance with Moorish elements
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FEATURED · MARCALI, HUNGARYMarcali Synagogue
The Marcali Synagogue, consecrated on 28 October 1906 on today's Petőfi Sándor Street, was a Hungarian Secession building by Marcell Komor and Dezső Jakab, a smaller relative of their synagogue in Subotica. Its congregation was deported in 1944, and the Communists demolished the looted, abandoned building in 1963 to make way for a secondary school.
- Completed
- 1906
- Destroyed
- 1963
- Architect
- Marcell Komor and Dezső Jakab
- Style
- Hungarian Secession (Art Nouveau)
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FEATURED · BAMBERG, GERMANYNew Synagogue of Bamberg
Bamberg’s monumental 1910 synagogue made Jewish communal life unmistakably visible in the city. Nazis looted and burned it during the November 1938 pogrom, and the surviving structure was demolished.
- Completed
- 1910
- Destroyed
- 1938–1939
- Architect
- Johannes Kronfuß
- Style
- Monumental historicism with Jugendstil influences
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FEATURED · KAISERSLAUTERN, GERMANYKaiserslautern Synagogue
Dedicated on 26 February 1886, Ludwig Levy's domed Moorish-Byzantine synagogue was hailed as an ornament of Kaiserslautern. In the summer of 1938, months before Kristallnacht, Nazi mayor Richard Imbt and Gauleiter Josef Bürckel forced the community to surrender it; it was demolished that autumn and its north portal blown up on 9 October 1938.
- Completed
- 1886 (foundation stone 29 October 1883; dedicated 26 February 1886)
- Destroyed
- 1938 (forced surrender July–August 1938; demolition from late August; blown up 17 September 1938 per Rabbi Saly Baron's account; north portal blown up 9 October 1938)
- Architect
- Ludwig Levy (1854–1907); executing master builder Sommerrock of Kaiserslautern
- Style
- Moorish-Byzantine / Romanesque Revival with oriental elements; central plan (Greek cross inscribed in a square) with large tambour dome
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