Great Italian Synagogue

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Great Italian Synagogue
Via San Martino e Solferino
Padua, May 2025

“The Padua Synagogue, also called the Great Italian Synagogue in Padua (Sinagoga di Padova di rito italiano), is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, that is located at San Martino e Solferino 9, in Padua, Veneto, Italy. Completed in 1548, it is the only synagogue still in use of the several that flourished in the university town of Padua from the Renaissance through World War II. The Italian Synagogue was built in 1548. The synagogue underwent renovation and/or restoration in 1581, 1631, 1830, and 1865. It was closed in 1892 when the community built a modern synagogue, but reopened after the war because in 1943 fascists burned the modern synagogue. The synagogue is located at 9 Via San Martino and Solferino in the historic ghetto. It is in the same building as the offices of the Jewish community of Padua. Students visiting the university are welcome to pray with the congregation. Visitors can see the synagogue by contacting the Jewish community.” (Padua Synagogue, Wikipedia)

Jubilejní synagoga

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Jubilejní synagoga (Jubilee Synagogue)
Jeruzalémská, Nové Město
Prague, September 2024

"The Jubilee Synagogue (Czech: Jubilejní synagoga), also known as the Jerusalem Synagogue (Czech: Jeruzalémská synagoga), is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, located on Jerusalem Street in the Nové Město district of Prague, in the Czech Republic. It is the largest synagogue in Prague. The synagogue was built in 1906, designed by Wilhelm Stiassny and built by Alois Richte, the synagogue was initially named in honor of the silver Jubilee of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. The synagogue was built as a replacement for three synagogues (the Zigeiner, the Velkodvorská, and the New) destroyed between 1898 and 1906. Although built as a Reform synagogue (with an organ and a choir), it is nowadays used by the more traditional (Modern Orthodox) members of the Prague Jewish community, aligning itself officially with Orthodox Judaism. Still, compared to the famous other active synagogue of Prague, the Old New Synagogue, the Jubilee Synagogue is far less stringent in many ways." (Jubilee Synagogue, Wikipedia)

Synagogue of Modena

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Synagogue of Modena
Piazza Mazzini
Modena, May 2024

“The Monumental Synagogue was built in the neighbourhood that originally comprised the city’s ancient Jewish ghetto, but that ghetto was closed in 1861, before the building was constructed. Today the facade of the synagogue is clearly visible from the Via Emilia, the main street of Modena old city center, but when it was initially built, the temple was hidden by the buildings that stood in the area where you find now Piazza Mazzini and the façade was the one you can still admire in Via Coltellini. Those buildings were demolished in 1904 to make way for the Piazza.” (Synagogue, VisitModena)

Synagogue of Pisa

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Synagogue
Via Palestro
Pisa, April 2022

“Pisa’s synagogue is documented as having occupied the same building since the end of the sixteenth century. Initially rented, the complex was purchased in 1647 and first renovated in 1785. In 1861-65 it was renovated again, to a project by the architect Marco Treves. Treves was a Jew from Vercelli who was working in Tuscany at the time, where he designed some major works for his Jewish clientele. The façade was redesigned, and is simple with classical forms. The main hall of the synagogue, situated on the first floor, was raised, and Treves added the second order of windows, and the large pavilion vault adorned with understated neoclassical decorations. The furnishings were rearranged to reflect a new layout that had become popular during the emancipation era, inspired by Catholic churches. The tevah, enclosed by a semi-circular balustrade in walnut wood, was now placed next to the area of the aron hakodesh, creating a single focal point, similar to the chancel in churches. The central space was entirely occupied by pews, arranged in two sectors of parallel rows facing the aron. On the opposite side, above the entrance, is the women’s gallery.” (Synagogue of Pisa, Visit Jewish Italy)

Dohány utcai Zsinagóga

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Detail of the Dohány utcai Zsinagóga (Dohány Street Synagogue)
Dohány utca
Budapest, September 2017

Neue Synagoge

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Neue Synagoge (New Synagogue), 1866
Oranienburger Straße
Berlin, September 2011

“The front of the building, facing Oranienburger Straße, is richly ornamented with shaped bricks and terracotta, accented by coloured glazed bricks. Beyond the entrance, the building's alignment changes to mesh with pre-existing structures. The synagogue's main dome with its gilded ribs is an eye-catching sight. The central dome is flanked by two smaller pavilion-like domes on the two side-wings. Beyond the façade was the front hall and the main hall with 3,000 seats. Due to the unfavourable alignment of the property, the building's design required adjustment along a slightly turned axis. The Neue Synagoge is also a monument of early iron construction. The new building material (iron was previously not used in building construction) was visible in its use for the outside columns, as well as in the dome's construction. (Iron was also a core component for the now-lost floor structure of the main hall.)” (New Synagogue, Wikipedia)

Rue Copernic

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Plaque remembering the victims of the 1980 bombing
Synagogue of the Union Libérale Israélite de France
Rue Copernic
Quartier de Chaillot, 16th arrondissement
Paris, July 2012

(In memory
of
Jean Michel Barbé, Philippe Bouissou
Hilario Lopez Fernandez, Aliza Shagrir
killed during the odious attack
committed against
this synagogue
on 3 October 1980)

Great Synagogue of Florence

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Tempio Maggiore (Great Synagogue)
Via Luigi Carlo Farini
Florence, October 2013

“The Florence synagogue was built after years of discussion about its location. The community wanted to build it as close to the center as possible, in order to signify what it saw as the important role Jews played in the new, unified Italy which had guaranteed them full civil rights. In the event, the temple was built a little off the old city center. A gift of land and money by congregant David Levi was too good to refuse. Still, the large dome of the Tempio israelitico is a prominent feature of the Florence landscape. The vaguely oriental shape of the dome supplanted an original typicaly neo-renaissance design. This and all the other Moorish features of the temple were virtually imposed on the architects by the professors of the Florentine Academy. ” (Great Synagogue of Florence, Chabad Travel Guide)

Tempio Maggiore

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Tempio Maggiore (The Great Synagogue)
Via del Tempio / Largo Stefano Gay Taché
Rome, May 2010

Rosh Hashanah

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Rosh Hashanah
Central Synagogue
Lexington Avenue
New York, September 2008