THREAD: Theres an incredible legacy of Synagogue architecture in many countries & cities wher ther hav been jewish communities, many from the period of Jewish emancipation in Europe &after, tho of course many more going back up to 2k yrs. Here the operatic Tempio Maggiore di Roma

The Italian Jewish community, while small, were prominent & proud, & built structures that were uniquely prominent in their respective cities in ways that have never again been matched by Jewish religious buildings anywhere since, here the great Synagogue of Florence, 1874-82

Then there is what is now called the Mole Antonelliana (after the architect), the absolutely vast, skyscraping building that was intended to be the city’s main Synagogue, but which was given to the state as the project proved too costly for the community to complete on their own

The (necessarily much cheaper & less ambitious) one they ended up rapidly building instead isn’t bad either

Hidden from the exterior, on upper floors, the 5 16thC synagogues of the Venice Ghetto were from a different, less accepting era, but show how Jews from multiple communities could proudly coexist with their own (interiorised) architectural expressions http://www.museoebraico.it/en/synagogues/ 

U don’t get Many Jewish communities who have had more of an effect on the world, or been quite so prominent in the Modern imagination, as Vienna’s, & Seitenstettengasse Temple, the only survivor of WW2, is appropriately wonderful. From 1824-6 it cld be mistaken 4 an opera house

The suitably grand Grand Choral Synagogue of St Petersburg, from 1880-88, is the 3rd largest synagogue in Europe, fitting the old capital of what used to be a country with a vast Jewish population, which it had until it dwindled after perestroika.

Germany’s Jewish population was large, successful, integrated, proud, and had expressed itself in amazing buildings like Berlin’s New Synagogue, 1859-66, only the front section of which has survived & been restored, & has a small active congregation

Image https://www.deviantart.com/pingallery/art/New-Synagogue-in-Berlin-297397443?q=gallery%3Apingallery%2F12488460&qo=8

Dresden had a jewel-like gem of a Synagogue designed by the great Gottfried Semper, in a neo-Moorish style which, I’m sure uv noticed, was a popular style for embodying Jewish otherness, Semper here being the 1st 2 ever use it for a Synagogue, effectively kicking off the trend

The Semper synagogue was destroyed during Kristallnacht, but an interesting new synagogue was built to replace it in 1997, part of a 90s/2000s renaissance of German Jewish life, thanks to an influx of Jewish immigration

For more on the building: https://www.archdaily.com/318277/flashback-new-synagogue-dresden-wandel-hoefer-lorch-hirsch

Similarly the old synagogue of Munich was a hugely impressive edifice, it was the first to be destroyed by the Nazis, but has recently been replaced with the wonderful new Ohel Jakob synagogue from 2004-6 https://www.archdaily.com/317862/the-jewish-center-in-munich-wandel-hoefer-lorch-hirsch

You can probably sense there is a bit of a stone-cube thing that the new German Synagogues have going. I think it serves to imply an ancient quality in a modern way quite elegantly. This is the new Synagogue in Ulm opened in 2012 https://www.dezeen.com/2012/12/18/ulm-synagogue-by-kister-scheithauer-gross/

The 1st of Europe’s ultra prominent and grand synagogues in a major city was Amsterdam’s 17th C Portuguese Synagogue, a perfectly protestant feeling, spatious structure worthy of a Saenredam painting, built 4the successful community of Jews who had escaped the Spanish Inquisition

Of course the Dutch are AMAZING with their architecture, and just check out this Reform Synagogue in Amsterdam from 2010 to see how they are still creating breathtaking spaces for communal life

Photos by Iwan Baan https://divisare.com/projects/392033-search-iwan-baan-synagogue-ljg

I love polychromy in architecture, and the Jubilee Synagogue in Prague blew my mind when I saw it as a kid, a completely joyous copulation of Moorish revival, colour, and raucous art noyveau references, built in 1906

Jumping elsewhere in the Austro-Hungarian Empire is the polychrome glory of the Subotica Synagogue in Serbia, the 2nd largest in Europe & one of the most important Art Nouveau religious building in the world. See: https://annetteandbjorn.wordpress.com/near-belgrade/subotica-synagogue/

I cant mention the Austro-Hungarian empire without posting Budapest’s epic Gr8 Synagogue 1854-9, the biggest in Europe, & fittingly 4 such a splendiferous city it is absolutely, divinely OTT, a welcome expression of Jewish emancipation that was happening in the Empire @ the time

Elsewhere in Hungary is the astonishing masterpiece that is the Szeged Synagogue by Lipót Baumhorn in the turn of the century ‘Magyar Style’, from 1907 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szeged_Synagogue

In Poland is the beautiful surviving Łańcut Synagogue of 1761, from the lands of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth which was unusually tolerant and welcoming of jews in an often difficult period for them from the 16th C

Leading 2 a flowering of Yiddish culture throughout their lands that included the creation of The great wooden synagogues, probably the greatest ever architectural expression of Yiddish culture. Sadly All lost in the Holocaust, see my separate thread here: https://twitter.com/furmadamadam/status/1213011339825815552?s=21

Tho all lost, u can visit the reconstructed interior of the 16thC Gwoździec synagogue in the amazing Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, 2 c what they wld hav been like. Look what JOY. I think the amount of joy & celebration in Jewish culture is 2 often overlookd

Argentina has the worlds 6th largest jewish community, & theyr an integral part of the nation’s history & culture, &right next 2the Teatro Colon, proudly in the heart of BuenosAires, is the Templo Libertad, an impressive synagogue that I must say I always found a touch terrifying

In Cordoba, Argentina’s second city, is the stunning interwar Centro Unión Israelita de Córdoba, with its deco-modernist dome & details, and elegant, generously proportioned barrel vaulting. Recently beautifully restored

In keeping with the ridiculous treasure-trove of expressive modernism that is Brazil, Sao Paolo’s Congregação Israelita Paulista 1954-9 is a masterpiece of modern community & worship architecture, also the biggest synagogue in Latin America https://www.arquivo.arq.br/sede-da-congregacao-israelita-paulista

The fabulously terse early modernist Brno synagogue in (at the time the supermodernising nation of) Czechia by Otto Eisler, 1934-36.
https://www.bam.brno.cz/en/object/c117-synagogue

And just across the way in Slovakia, The Nová Synagóga (New Synagogue) of Žilina, by the great Peter Behrens, 1928-1931

A large proportion of jews lived 4 a millenia in the Middle East & N Africa, & built many wonderful places of worship. The synagogue of Bhamdound, an exquisitely elegant modern take on byzantine & Ottoman architectural forms, was one of Lebanon’s 4 largest https://blogbaladi.com/in-pictures-the-synagogue-of-bhamdoun/

Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue in Alexandria, Egypt, was the heart of a vibrant Jewish community present in the city since the ptolemaic days when the city was 35% Jewish, tho by sum estimates its Jewish population reached an astonishing 400k folowing the muslim conquest of the country

Possibly my favourite N African synagogue is the powerfully formed Grand Synagogue of Tunis, by Victor Valensi, 1933-7

Just a fun aside, this is a photo I took of a mosaic on the facade of Buenos Aires’ Templo Libertad Synagogue. In case you didn’t know, Leonard Nimoy borrowed this (holy jewish) gesture from shul when he was a kid, and used it for Star Trek because it looked, well, cool...

The UK’s Synagogues aren’t half bad either... this is the Grade 2* listed Hampstead Synagogue (im a member of the congregation for full disclosure), a veritable late-victorian symphony of marble, stained glass, icing & brick by Delissa Joseph from 1892

As a colour-magpie, I’m of course a huge fan of the (beautifully restored & also Grade 2* listed) Singers Hill Synagogue in Birmingham, a right little bit of all-over wedding-cake Wedgwood-blue from 1856

Fittingly for a city like Liverpool that is blessed with so much mighty, excellent architecture, its Princes Road Synagogue from 1874 easily holds its own in a landscape of great icons. Sculpted, massive, & severe to the exterior it is refined, elegant, & sumptuous on the inside

Images of Princes Rd from the Wikipedia page: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princes_Road_Synagogue

Back to Prague for another divinely ornate, jewel encrusted interior, this time the city’s Spanish Synagogue (it wasn’t for a Sephardic congregation, the name refers to the building’s style) from 1868

This glorious wedding cake in Mumbai is the Magen David Synagogue from 1864. It was built for the city’s Baghdadi jewish congregation that was founded decades earlier by the great David Sassoon

Sassoon however passed away not in Bombay, but in Pune, where he was in the process of building the Ohel David Synagogue (1867), which is one of the most church-like of synagogues I have seen. The grounds also contain Sassoon’s mausoleum (last picture)

In honour of the wonderful, inspiring Rabbi Sacks who passed away today, here is the Western Marble Arch synagogue from 1957 that he was head of between 1983 & 1990 (he was head of the also architecturally important Dunstan Rd Synagogue before that)

Jumping back 2 the muslim world, Sephardi Jews were a hugely important part of Ottoman Anatolia, and built many wonderful places of worship, including the recently restored Grand Synagogue of Edirne from 1909 -yes, i am once again drawn to the glorious polychromy -

Cairo’s Sha'ar Hashamayim Synagogue from 1899 is a dramatic fin de siecle showcase that is as decadent (in the best sense of the world) as they come...

In Herat, Afghanistan, once a hub for Jewish life in the region, is the Aw Yu Synagogue, the city’s only mostly-intact surviving example, from the 18th century https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2020/2/7/herats-restored-synagogues-reveal-afghanistans-jewish-past

France, with the world’s 3rd largest jewish population, has a commensurate amount of places of worship that live up to the architectural standards of an art-and-architecture-loving nation. This is the Synagogue de la rue des Tournelles in Paris, with steelwork by Eiffel from 1876

The Synagogue de la Victoire is definitely the grandest in Paris (it looks like something from Game of Thrones) but my favourite is the Synagogue de Nazareth, a delightful essay in elegant french polychromy from 1852

Speaking of Polychromy, lets jump back to Budapest for the city’s main Orthodox place of worship, the (i think you’ll agree) rather unparalleled Hungarian Art-Nouveau Kazinczy Street Synagogue from 1913

Lithuania used 2 have a mighty jewish population, with the capital being 45% jewish just b4 WW2. There is 1 remaining functioning place of worship now, the delightful Choral Synagogue of Vilnius from 1903, with what I think is one of the most beautiful Aron Kodeshes anywhere

The sheer scale of life, culture, the diversity of its communities, the numbers &astounding vigour of American jewry means its architectural legacy is also a wonder 2 behold, here the masterful polychromatic decorative scheme of the NewYork Central Synagogue, Henry Fernbach, 1872

New York has the largest jewish population of any city in the world (over a million), and includes everything from the grandiosity of the Central Synagogue, to the wild voluptuousness of the Tribeca Synagogue, by William N. Breger, 1967...

And the buttoned-up elegance, dare I say Wasp-y-ness of the Edmond J. Safra Synagogue, by Thierry W Despont, 2003

And my favourite, the biblically scaled home of Reform Judaism, the Temple Emanu-El (1929-30), for me one of the most perfectly decorated & proportioned of large religious spaces anywhere in the world

On Long Island is the stunning Gates of the Grove Synagogue at the Jewish Center of the Hamptons designed by Norman Jaffe in 1989

https://synagogues-360.anumuseum.org.il/gallery/jewish-center-of-the-hamptons/

Just look at the shingling on the exterior...

LA’s spectacular Wilshire Boulevard Temple (designed by architect Abram M. Edelman -son of the congregation's first rabbi, Abraham Edelman) feels like something from Marvel’s Asgard, and is apparently getting a hyper-trendy extension by Rem Koolhaas’ OMA

Of course I have to mention Frank Lloyd Wright’s tour de force, Beth Sholom, in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, from 1953-9, a perfect crystalline poem of high-american confidently spiritual modernity

Erich Mendelsohn‘s Park Synagogue in Cleveland, from 1950, one of four he designed in the US, leaves me breathless with awe at its proportional poise and spatial precision. I would so dearly love to visit it one day...

Percival Goodman’s dramatic, but restrained and modest Beth-El Synagogue in Providence, Rhode Island from 1947-52, one if the first modern jewish places of worship in New England http://americanjewisharchives.org/publications/journal/PDF/1993_45_01_00_goodwin.pdf & …http://samgrubersjewishartmonuments.blogspot.com/2015/01/happy-birthday-percival-goodman.html?m=1

Percival Goodman designed many, many fantastic synagogues in his long career, here is another, less restrained one, Congregation Shaarey Zedek, in the Detroit suburb of Southfield from 1962

This is the (sadly demolished) conical spiral of the Temple B'nai Jehuda, by Kivett and Myers, 1969, Kansas City

One of my favourites is the B'nai Israel congregation synagogue (no longer in use), in Pittsburgh, by Henry Hornbostel, from 1923, the exterior of which is what I imagine a Synagogue by Giovanni Muzio might’ve looked like
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Image from http://hiveminer.com 

In Albuquerque New Mexico is B'nai Israel by Edward George Wynn from 1969-71

While we’re looking at impressive modern synagogues, lets hop back to glorious Italy, where Livorno’s temple is an unusual concrete gem... designed by Angelo Di Castro and built 1958-62, it is the only postwar place of jewish worship in the country https://divisare.com/projects/302533-angelo-di-castro-louis-davidson-synagogue-of-livorno

Australia’s jewish community is large, vibrant, and marked its arrival with its first synagogue back in 1845 in Hobart, which is both the oldest in Australia, & I believe possibly the only (very) Egyptian revival 1 in the world... the building is impeccably preserved inside & out

The Launceston synagogue, opened only a year later in 1846, also in Tasmania, is a more abstracted and classicising take on Egyptian revival proportions

And of course, because it’s Australia, home of some of the funkiest contemporary architecture in the world, new Jewish places of worship don’t skip on it... here is the new Emanuel Synagogue in Woollahra by the Lippmann Partnership

Hopping back to California for a bit of contemporary American Synagogue architecture, this is the Beth Sholom Synagogue by Stanley Saitowitz in San Francisco

Up in Illinois is the stunning New Formalist North Shore Synagogue by the great Minoru Yamasaki, built in 1964 https://synagogues-360.anumuseum.org.il/gallery/north-shore-congregation-israel/

With the world’s second largest jewish population, it’s not surprising that Israel has plenty of unique synagogues, but let me begin with my favourite ever unbuilt one, the incredible design by louis Kahn for the Hurva Synagogue in Jerusalem 1967-8 http://architectuul.com/architecture/hurva-synagogue

Israel is replete with many heroic, inventive brutalist concrete structures, & its places of worship don’t dissapoint. This is Alfred Neumann and Zvi Hecker’s small but radical synagogue in the Negev Desert, Israel, 1967-69

Also in the southern desert region of the Negev is the folded concrete structure of the Eliyahu Khalastchi Central Synagogue of Beer Sheva, designed by Nahum Zolotov and completed in 1980

This is the adorable Rabbi Goldstein Synagogue in Jerusalem, by Heinrich Heinz Rau and David Reznick from 1957, which featured on an Israeli stamp in 1975. Click the link for an excellent article on it by Timothy Brittain Catlin on the @C20Society website https://c20society.org.uk/building-of-the-month/israel-goldstein-synagogue-givat-ram-campus-of-the-hebrew-university-jerusalem-israel#dismiss-cookie-notice

The gravity-defying concrete flying saucer of the Central Synagogue of Nazareth Illit, designed by Nahum Zolotov, 1968

1 of my all time favourites is the super streamline, beautifully proportioned Hechal Yehuda Synagogue in Tel Aviv by Yitzchak Toledano from 1980, with its deeply carved stone artwork facade by Yechezkel Kimchi, & uplifting stained glass by Josef Shealtiel

Just a couple of miles to the north is Mario Botta’s absolute triumph of religious architecture, the Cymbalista Synagogue from 1998

Also in Tel Aviv is the Ohel Moed Synagogue, the city’s main Sephardic place of worship, which i adore because of its beautiful dome which successfully references Guarino Guarini’s masterpiece the Chapel of the Holy Shroud in Turin

I’m not sure I’m a massive fan, but Mainz’s new Synagogue from 2011 is definitely inventive, designed by Manuel Herz Architects https://www.dezeen.com/2011/04/29/jewish-community-centre-mainz-by-manuel-herz-architects/amp/

In a wonderful sign of Jewish life surviving in the Baltics, Tallinn built a new, robust & modest but beautiful Synagogue in 2007, designed by KOKO https://miesarch.com/work/2031