Synagogue (Avenches)

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Synagogue in Avenches (1865)
Interior view with a view of the Bima (around 1900)

The synagogue in Avenches , a political municipality in the Broye-Vully district in the Swiss canton of Vaud , was built in 1864/1865 and demolished in 1957. The synagogue stood outside the city walls on the Chemin des Terreaux .

History and description

Presumably, the Jewish community initially owned a prayer room in a private house. Since the 1850s she tried to build a synagogue. In February 1863, she signed the purchase agreement for a house outside the city walls that was converted into a synagogue.

The synagogue with 120 seats, 60 each for women and men, was inaugurated on August 4, 1865 in the presence of the dignitaries by the rabbis Moïse Nordmann from Hégenheim in Alsace and Joseph Wertheimer from Geneva .

The rabbi's apartment was on the ground floor, the prayer room for men on the first floor and the women's gallery on the second floor . In the basement, which was mikveh . The cube was covered with a hipped roof. A stairway perpendicular to the main building opened up all floors. Surrounding cornices and corner pilasters structured the facade. Inside, on the eastern side, stood the slightly raised bima directly in front of the Torah shrine , which was framed by a round arch, resting on two side half-columns. The tablets of the law stood over the top of the arch .

Due to the emigration of most of the Jewish families, no services have been held in the synagogue since the 1930s . In 1950 there were only two Jewish families left in Avenches. In 1957 the synagogue building was demolished and the property sold. The ritual objects were given to the Jewish communities of Bern and Lausanne , where many former members of the Avenches Jewish community lived.

Commemoration

In 1979 a memorial stone was erected with the following inscription: «This is where the synagogue of the Israelite community rose. The first Jews settled in Avenches in 1826. The community numbered up to 250 members and slowly disbanded over the years. October 1979. »

literature

  • Ron Epstein-Mil: The synagogues of Switzerland. Buildings between emancipation, assimilation and acculturation. Contributions to the history and culture of the Jews in Switzerland, Volume 13 (series of publications by the Swiss Association of Israelites). Photographs by Micharl Richter. Chronos, 2nd expanded edition, Zurich 2017, ISBN 978-3-0340-1398-7 , pp. 99–101.

Web links

Commons : Synagogue  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 46 ° 52 '44.4 "  N , 7 ° 2' 27.4"  E ; CH1903:  five hundred sixty-nine thousand six hundred and eighty-five  /  192064