Jerusalem Synagogue

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West facade
Dedication inscription
inside view

The Jerusalem Synagogue ( Czech : Jeruzalémská synagoga ) is a synagogue in Prague's New Town . It is located on Jerusalem Street ( Jerusalemská ) 7.

history

Planning and construction

In 1898 the redevelopment of Prague's sluggish Josefstadt began. Three old synagogues had to give way: the Gypsy Synagogue, the Großenhof Synagogue and the New Synagogue. A replacement was to be created for this.

The original name for the project and the synagogue was Jubilee Synagogue , as the plan for the construction of the building was drawn up in 1898, the year of the 50th anniversary of the throne of Emperor Franz Joseph I. In order to organize the construction of a new synagogue, an association was founded that same year, which in 1899 acquired a building that had to be demolished in Jerusalemer Straße as a building site. As a result, there were a total of three drafts for the new building. The first two did not materialize. It was a design in the neo-Romanesque style by Alois Richter (1899) and one in the neo-Gothic style by Josef Linhart (1901). Finally, a plan by Wilhelm Stiassny from Vienna , who had designed a building in Moorish and Oriental forms in 1903, was implemented. 1904–1906 Alois Richter implemented the plan of his colleague from Vienna. On September 16, 1906, at Simchat Torah , the new synagogue was inaugurated.

use

The house of God was soon called the “Jerusalem Synagogue” after the name of the street where it stood. The name of the street, in turn, came from a baroque Jerusalem chapel that no longer exists.

During the German occupation and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia , the street was called "Siebenbürgenstraße". During this time, the Jerusalem synagogue was from 1941–45 a collection center for confiscated Jewish property of the “Treuhandstelle” of the Central Office for Jewish Emigration in Prague (since 1942: Central Office for the Settlement of the Jewish Question in Bohemia and Moravia ).

Since 1945 the synagogue has been continuously used for worship by the Prague Jewish religious community. From 1993 onwards, interior and exterior renovations began in stages.

The building continues to be used for church services, although the central room is only used on major public holidays. The regular worship services take place in an adjoining room. The synagogue is open to visitors and it is also used for concerts. On the gallery there are two permanent exhibitions, one on the history of the Jewish community in Prague from 1945 to today and a second on Jewish monuments in the Czech Republic and their restoration since 1989.

Building description

Outside

In the center of the facade is a mighty portico with an arch, the shape of which is borrowed from Islamic art, and a rose window showing a star of David . In the gable of the portico are the tablets of the law . An inscription on the portico quotes Psalm 118:20: This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous will go there . On the central arch of the entrance arcade is a verse from the prophet Malachi 2:10: Don't we all have a father? Didn't a god create us? Two tower-like risalits flank the portico. The stairs to the (women's) galleries are located here.

Inside

The interior of the synagogue is a three-aisled basilica , the side aisles of which are separated from the main nave by seven arches in the style of Islamic arches. The arcades support the women's and organ galleries. Their parapets are adorned with quotes from the Bible. The organ is in the west, opposite the Torah shrine . Stained glass windows and skylights provide lighting. They are remarkably complete. The Torah shrine has the shape of a stepped portal, the upper area of ​​which is decorated with a vine motif and which is crowned by the tablets of the law. All walls and the ceiling are richly stenciled in the Moorish style.

literature

  • Arno Pařik: The Jerusalem Synagogue - The Old New Synagogue . [Leaflet]. Židovská Obec v Praze [Jewish Community in Prague] (ed.), Prague n.d. [2019]
  • Arno Pařík: Jewish Prague . Jewish Museum, 3rd edition, Prague 2005.
  • Arno Pařík: Prague synagogues . Jewish Museum, Prague 2005.

Web links

Commons : Jerusalem Synagogue  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pařík: The Jubilee Synagogue .
  2. ↑ Pařík: The Jubilee Synagogue .
  3. ↑ Pařík: The Jubilee Synagogue .

Coordinates: 50 ° 5 ′ 4.9 ″  N , 14 ° 25 ′ 55.1 ″  E