Währinger Temple
The Währinger Tempel (also known as Synagogue Währing ) was a synagogue of the Jewish Community in the 18th Viennese district of Währing in Schopenhauerstraße 39 (originally Wiener Straße ). The synagogue was built in 1888 and 1889 according to plans by the architect Jakob Modern (1838–1912) and was a synthesis of occidental and oriental styles typical of the time. The Währinger temple was destroyed during the November pogroms in 1938 .
history
The Jewish suburb of Währing was still independent of the Viennese community at the time and had its synagogue built between 1888 and 1889 according to plans by the architect Jakob Modern. The foundation stone was ceremonially laid on the day of the 40th anniversary of the reign of Emperor Franz Joseph I, on December 2, 1888. Construction work was entrusted to the city master builder Joseph Wurts in Währing, and excavation work began in mid-1889.
After Währing was incorporated into Vienna, the Jewish community of Währing lost its independence due to the Israelites Act of 1890. The house of prayer, which had only recently been completed, has now been placed under the administration of the Israelite religious community. The year 1938 marked the end of the synagogue. The synagogue was destroyed in the pogrom night in 1938 and later demolished. Today there is only a lawn behind a new building at this point.
The rabbis were:
- Wilhelm Sor (1889–1903)
- David Feuchtwang (1903-1933)
- Artur Zacharias Schwarz (from 1933)
architecture
Layout
The construction space for the planned temple was a relatively narrow courtyard between neighboring houses. Due to this fact, light into the interior of the basilica- like complex could only be obtained from above.
The desired construction program was:
1. maximum possible use of the given space; 2. simple equipment; 3. Lowest cost of production.
Further factors that the architects had to take into account were, according to the religious regulations, the separation between the area for men and women, the chancellery and a meeting room necessary for the congregation, and the above-mentioned lighting issue. The scope was further restricted by various conditions that the competent authority determined:
1. the distance between the new building and the old house must be at least 5.85 meters; 2. the seat width 55 cm, the seat length 85 cm; 3. Appropriate number of emergency exit doors; 4. Aisle width in the temple room at least 1.20 meters; 5. Attachment of catches to the doors; 6. Avoidance of inlaid steps in the seats in the women's gallery; 7. Installation of iron emergency stairs for the women's gallery.
The architect designed the basic form as a basilica which was laid out on two floors. According to the various regulations, the men's section received 328 seats and the women's gallery 176 seats. The temple therefore held a total of 504 seats and room for standing people.
Exterior architecture
The shell of the facade of the temple was executed with ordinary exposed bricks. The centerpieces of the windows were made of stone and the sculptures were made of cast cement.
The windows of the whole building were made of iron, the glazing was made of cathedral glass . Stylistically, the temple was a mixture of Italian Renaissance and Romanticism both inside and out . The three-aisled, free-standing structure was reminiscent of the Gustav Adolf Church in Gumpendorf . It was described in the Allgemeine Bauzeitung in 1892 as an “example of an unusually cheaply constructed house of God”. The location in an inner courtyard corresponded to the synagogue buildings of the Schmalzhof temple and the ship school . The building was reconstructed in 2005 by Christoph Oberhofer as part of a diploma thesis.
Interior design
Three entrance doors led into the synagogue's vestibule. Inside, the construction was supported by cast iron pillars.
All the rooms of the temple were richly painted with arabesques , the coving in the vestibule and individual parts of the cast-iron pillars were gold-leafed.
The gallery and choir parapets were painted old, capitals and individual profiles were gold-leafed.
The central nave and the front part of the building were covered with old roof tiles, the side aisles and the bima with zinc. All roofs were accessible by iron ladder stairs and, as a result, had to be cleaned of snow.
While the holy of holies had a rectangular shape, the choir stage was located above the Torah shrine . The Torah shrine was made of pine wood, painted in white oil paint, ornaments and individual profiles were gilded. The same was true of the ornate walls on either side.
The corridors on the ground floor were 1.5 meters wide and covered with three-colored cement slabs on a concrete base.
The dais of the Bima was paved with Mettlacher slabs, as was the vestibule. The prayer desks on the ground floor stood on a planed board floor with hard frame pieces onto which the tubs are screwed. The entire paintwork in the building was old oak.
The steps of the storey stairs were made of Trissan stone, the leaning steps were Rekawinkler, the steps and curbs at the Bima were made of karst marble.
technology
The temple was heated by two large Meidinger filling ovens, which were housed in the two rear chambers (rabbi and cantor room). The office and the conference room were also heated by filling ovens.
The ventilation was done through a system of cold and warm hoses. The cold hoses supplied fresh air while the stale air withdrew through the warm hoses.
A ventilation system was also installed above the chandelier, which could be regulated from the attic through a flap and which led out over the ridge.
The lighting was done by gas and consisted of a chandelier, two candelabra (at the Bima), 21 pendants and 24 wall arms.
The two gas meters required for this were located in the chamber under the platform of the left staircase and were accessible from the vestibule. Under the platform of the right staircase, also accessible from the vestibule, there was a toilet and the urinal for the men's section. The women's gallery had two toilets, inserted between the first and second floors.
costs
The following companies and their estimated costs were involved in the construction:
- The master builder, Joseph Wurts fl. 15,570.29
- Stone carvings, Eduard Hauser , M. Sonnenschein 2105,47
- Carpentry work, Frants Djörup 2412.29
- Spänglerarbeiten, Franz Führer 1298.35
- Brickwork, Wilhelm Radda 239.17
- Carpentry work, Franz Riedl, J. Voglhut 6735,62
- Locksmith work, Franz Gratzl 6441.50
- Painting work, Simon Nossig 391.03
- Sculpture work, Ram & Rickl 714.14
- Gas and water pipeline work, Alois Hartmann 1000.00
- Abortion facilities, Alois Hartmann 99.24
- Painting work, Karl Müller 2300.00
- Glazing with cathedral glass , Carl Geyling's Erben 1422.00
- Furnace delivery 301.00
- Lighting objects, Nikolaus Mundt 1494.20
- Delivery of the curtains, wedding canopy, etc. 800.00
The total costs for the construction amounted to 43,324.30 florins , with the largest part being the master builder, followed by the joinery and locksmith work and carpentry and stone carving. Thus, the builders fulfilled the requirement of a very inexpensive and above all rapid construction of the church for the time.
literature
- Pierre Genée: Synagogues in Währing and Döbling. In: David. Jewish culture magazine . Vol. 8, No. 29, June / July 1996, ZDB -ID 1209593-x , pp. 10-11.
- Pierre Genée: Vienna Synagogues 1825–1938 . Löcker, Vienna 1987, ISBN 3-85409-113-3 .
- Pierre Genée: Synagogues in Austria. Löcker, Vienna 1992, ISBN 3-85409-203-2 .
- Edmund Konnerth: The new Israelite temple in Währing. In: Allgemeine Bauzeitung. 1892, ZDB -ID 211958-4 , p. 39, online .
- Bob Martens , Herbert Peter: The destroyed synagogues of Vienna. Virtual city walks . Mandelbaum Verlag, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-85476-313-0 .
- Christoph Oberhofer: Computer-aided reconstruction of the synagogue in Vienna-Währing. Thesis. Vienna University of Technology, Vienna 2005, OBV .
Web links
- DAVID | Reconstruction of the synagogue in Vienna-Währing , Volume 18, No. 70, September 2006 (PDF file; 181 kB)
- Jewish places of worship in Vienna before 1938
Individual evidence
- ↑ Modern, Jakob. In: Architects Lexicon Vienna 1770–1945. Published by the Architekturzentrum Wien . Vienna 2007.
- ^ Bob Martens: Reconstruction of the synagogue in Schopenhauerstraße (Vienna). In: David. Jewish culture magazine. Volume 18, No. 70, September 2006
Coordinates: 48 ° 13 ′ 27 ″ N , 16 ° 20 ′ 26 ″ E