Synagogue on Rue des Tournelles

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Facade facing the Rue des Tournelles
Rosette and tablets of the law

The Synagogue of Rue des Tournelles is the second largest synagogue in Paris after the Synagogue of Rue de la Victoire . It is located at 21 bis rue des Tournelles and is part of the Marais district in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The nearest metro stations are Chemin Vert on line 8 or Bastille on lines 1 , 5 and 8. The synagogue was inaugurated in 1876 and declared a monument historique ( cultural monument ) in 1987 .

history

After the Jewish community of Paris had grown rapidly to over 15,000 members in the middle of the 19th century, the city of Paris agreed with the consistory to build two large synagogues in 1865 . The city of Paris undertook to cover half of the construction costs for both synagogues and made two plots available. In the 9th arrondissement , which had developed into a new business district since the July monarchy , the rue de la Victoire synagogue was built, the largest synagogue in France. By building a synagogue in the Rue des Tournelles, the consistory wanted to withdraw the faithful from the many small prayer rooms in the Marais district. In the Marais , where there was a Jewish community as early as the 18th century, a large part of the immigrants from Alsace-Lorraine and Eastern Europe , including many Jews, had settled in the 19th century . As there was no vacant land in this densely populated area, the synagogue was built on the site of the Hôtel de la Rivière, a former aristocratic palace from the 17th century between Place des Vosges and Rue des Tournelles, between 1791 and 1860 a mayor's office was housed. Since the facade facing the Place de Vosges could not be changed, the entrance to the synagogue had to be relocated to the narrow Rue des Tournelles. Construction work began in 1867, but was not completed until 1876 due to the interruption during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71. The design by the architect Marcellin-Emanuel Varcollier (1829–1895), a pupil of Victor Baltard , was inspired by Alfred-Philibert Aldrophe (1834–1895), the architect of the synagogue on Rue de la Victoire. The synagogue was inaugurated on September 30, 1876 on the occasion of the Jewish New Year festival Rosh Hashanah on Tishri . It was first handed over to the Ashkenazi community and visited by Jewish immigrants from Alsace-Lorraine. Later immigrants from Poland and Tsarist Russia joined them. After the Second World War , as a result of the Holocaust , the Ashkenazi community could no longer raise ten men of religious age . For this reason the synagogue was handed over to the Sephardic community in 1958 , which had grown considerably due to the large immigration of North African Jews .

Synagogue of the Place des Vosges

On September 14, 1963, the building facing the Place de Vosges and formerly used as the apartment of the Grand Rabbi was inaugurated as a prayer room for the Ashkenazi community. Originally known as the Place des Vosges synagogue, it was named on June 16, 2006 after its founder, Rabbi Charles Liché , a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp .

architecture

The synagogue on Rue des Tournelles can accommodate 1,340 people, including 600 on the ground floor. It is 22 meters wide and 50 meters long.

facade

The facade facing the Rue des Tournelles is made of limestone blocks . The round gable is crowned by the tablets of the law . It is pierced by a rosette with eight spokes and provided with a Hebrew inscription of verses 19 and 20 of Psalm 118: Open the gates of salvation, I will pass through them and honor the Lord; here is the gate of the Eternal; the righteous will pass through it . The ram's horns are depicted under the rosette and the Torah scrolls and palm branches surrounded by ribbons on the sides . Among them are of fluted pilasters with Corinthian capitals surrounded double arcade . The coat of arms of the city of Paris , the owner of the building, is placed in the spandrels of the central triple arcade above the portal . The three middle arcades on the ground floor correspond to the main nave and the side arcades to the two side aisles.

inner space

inside view

In contrast to the traditional orientation to the east ( Misrach ), to Jerusalem , the synagogue on Rue des Tournelles is oriented from east to west due to the location of the property. To save space, an iron construction designed by engineer Gustave Eiffel was used for the load-bearing structure . The belt arches of the ceiling as well as the columns and arcades of the two-story galleries are uncovered iron girders, which are painted green and in some cases provided with Hebrew inscriptions. Biblical inscriptions and symbols such as palm branches and rams horns are also placed on the arches of the arcades, on the lunettes and on the vaulted ceiling. The ship is divided into five bays . The incidence of light through the rosette of the east facade is enhanced by colored glazed skylights and the oculi on the side walls. The main nave and aisles are separated from one another by square stone pillars . There is a large gallery above the vestibule and the organ above it .

Choir

The choir is four steps higher and is separated from the nave by a wrought iron grille. The Torah shrine is housed under a large arcade, raised six more steps and also separated by an iron grille, covered by a silk curtain . Above the keystone of the arcade are the black marble tables. The large, openwork stone slab of the wall niche, the openings of which are filled with colored glass, lets in subdued light.

literature

  • Jean Colson, Marie-Christine Lauroa (ed.): Dictionnaire des Monuments de Paris . Paris 2003 (1st edition 1992), ISBN 2-84334-001-2 , pp. 772-773.
  • Dominique Jarrassé: Guide du Patrimoine Juif Parisien . Parigramme, Paris 2003, ISBN 978-2-84096-247-2 , pp. 77-81.

Web links

Commons : Synagogue on Rue des Tournelles  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 48 ° 51 '18.9 "  N , 2 ° 22' 1.8"  E