Great Synagogue (Paris)
The Great Synagogue at 44 rue de la Victoire in the 9th arrondissement of Paris is the largest synagogue in France . In French it is also referred to as Synagogue de la Victoire or Grande Synagogue de Paris . It was inaugurated in 1874 and declared a monument historique ( cultural monument ) in 1987 . The nearest metro station is Notre-Dame-de-Lorette on line 12 .
history
The first synagogue of the consistory of Paris, the synagogue on Rue Notre-Dame-de-Nazareth , had already become too small a few years after its inauguration. In 1865, the city of Paris agreed with the consistory to build two more synagogues. The city of Paris undertook to cover half of the construction costs for both synagogues and made two plots available, one on rue des Tournelles in the Marais district , where a large number of Jews had settled in the 18th century , and one on rue de la Victoire in the 9th arrondissement, which had developed into a new business district in Paris since the July monarchy . The Jewish banker James de Rothschild had also settled in the 9th district, on Rue Laffitte. In 1867 construction began on the synagogue on Rue de la Victoire, which was not completed until 1876, with interruptions due to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71. The synagogue was inaugurated in 1874. Alfred-Philibert Aldrophe (1834–1895), who had also built the synagogues of Versailles and Enghien-les-Bains in Île-de-France, was commissioned as the architect.
On April 21, 1890, Alfred Dreyfus and Lucie Hadamard (1869–1945) were married in the Great Synagogue by the Grand Rabbi of France Zadoc Kahn , who later supported Alfred Dreyfus in the Dreyfus affair .
On the Sunday before the Jewish New Year celebration, Rosh Hashanah , a ceremony is held in this synagogue to commemorate the victims of the deportations in World War II.
architecture
The synagogue on Rue de la Victoire can accommodate 1,800 people. It is 38 meters high, 44 meters long and 17 meters wide. In its size and structure, it is reminiscent of a cathedral .
facade
The facade is flanked by two three-story stair towers, which are pierced by arched window openings, twin and triple windows like rosettes and do not protrude above the facade. The central part is crowned by a gable , which is pierced by a large rosette and in the outer arch of which a Hebrew inscription is carved with the words of Jacob : "This is the house of God and the gate of heaven". The tablets of the law form the upper end of the gable. The ground floor and the middle floor are divided by three large round-arched arcades , with the openings on the middle floor being provided with narrow triple arcades and rosettes. Behind it is the assembly room of the consistory. On the cornice between the first and second floors is the verse from the book of Isaiah in Hebrew : “I will fill you with joy in my house of prayer (...); for my house will be called the house of prayer of all peoples ”, a quote from the Bible that is often found on the gables of synagogues in France in the 19th century. Stairs lead from the vestibule on the ground floor to the women's galleries .
inner space
Corresponding to the central part of the facade and the three-part portal , the central nave is three times the width of the two aisles. Two rows of superimposed galleries adjoin the side aisles . The central nave is divided into five bays , which correspond to the five arcades through which the central nave opens to the aisles on the ground floor and on the first floor. Above the arcades on the first floor runs a frieze on which in Hebrew writing , the Ten Commandments are. Above this there is a triforium that continues into the choir . Rosettes form the top window of the nave . Due to the Roman style elements, such as the arches of the arcades and window openings and of transverse arches under collected barrel vaults the building is associated with the type of the neo-Roman synagogues. The four-storey wall elevation corresponds to the early Gothic .
Choir
A monumental round arch opens the nave to the elevated choir. In front of the choir is the bima , which the Sephardic Jews call Tevah and which is in the middle of the nave in the Orthodox synagogues . Behind it, an eight-armed silver candlestick ( Hanukkia ) catches the eye, a donation by Gustave de Rothschild . The central end of the choir is the aedicule with the Torah shrine , to which ten marble steps lead. The aedicula is illuminated by a rose window and the command panels crown its gable . The Hebrew letters יהוה( YHWH ) in the middle of the pediment stand for the name of God. The five large arcades of the choir symbolize the five books of the Torah ( Pentateuch ), which are ascribed to Moses . The symbols of the Twelve Tribes of Israel are depicted on the twelve large windows and scenes refer to Abraham , Moses, David , Isaiah and Ezra on the rosettes, the center of which is the Star of David . To the right of the choir is a rectangular room, the so-called small temple for daily prayers, and next to it, in a small courtyard, a tabernacle (sukka), in which the feast of tabernacles ( Sukkot ) is celebrated.
organ
The organ was built in 1875 by the organ builder Joseph Merklin and revised by Gutschenritter in 1960. The instrument has 26 stops on two manuals and a pedal. The playing and stop actions are electric.
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literature
- Jean Colson, Marie-Christine Lauroa (ed.): Dictionnaire des Monuments de Paris . Paris 2003, ISBN 2-84334-001-2 , p. 773 (1st edition 1992).
- Dominique Jarrassé: Guide du Patrimoine Juif Parisien . Parigramme, Paris 2003, ISBN 978-2-84096-247-2 , pp. 70-76.
Web links
- Grande Synagogue de Paris in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
- Grande Synagoge de Paris Communauté de la Victoire (French)
Individual evidence
Belleville | Buffault | Cadet | Chasseloup-Laubat | Copernic | Gaston-de-Caillavet | Montevideo | Montmartre | Notre-Dame-de-Nazareth | Pavée | Roquette | Saint-Lazare | Tournelles | Victoire
Coordinates: 48 ° 52 ′ 32 " N , 2 ° 20 ′ 11" E