Lesser known facts about this inhumane punishment
Formally dedicated in 1763 in Newport, Rhode Island, the Touro Synagogue is the oldest synagogue building still standing in the United States. Furthermore, it is the only synagogue to survive from the colonial era, and still serves as an active Orthodox congregation.
Built in 1841, the Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue in Charleston, South Carolina, is the second-oldest synagogue on the United States mainland, but can claim to be the oldest synagogue in continuous use. The Greek Revival-style building is home to the Congregation Beth Elohim.
Completed in 1905 during California's Gold Rush era, the Sherith Israel Temple in San Francisco stands as part of the movement of Reform Judaism. It's one of the few buildings in the city to have survived relatively unscathed the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
A landmark feature of the Savannah, Georgia skyline, the Mickve Israel Synagogue was completed in 1878, though the Congregation Mickve Israel was organized by Spanish-Portuguese Jews as far back as 1735. It's the only US congregation to practice in a Gothic-style synagogue.
Congregation Rodeph Shalom was founded in 1795 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is affiliated to Reform Judaism. The Rodeph Shalom Synagogue, located in the city and built over the original worship site, dates back to 1927 and is on the National Register of Historic Places for its unique Moorish Revival architecture.
Sources: (Haaretz) (Harvard Magazine) (The Conversation) (JGuideEurope) (Britannica)
Located in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, the Hurva Synagogue was originally founded in the early 18th century. Nearly destroyed and then rebuilt several times since, what you see today in fact dates back to 2010, reconstructed to its 1864 design. The synagogue is pictured adjacent to the 14th-century Sidna Omar mosque.
Erected in 1955, the Or Torah is a Tunisian synagogue located in Acre, Israel. The interior is glazed with numerous mosaics, and features stained glass windows, making it one of the world's most beautiful and unique synagogues.
The Sephardic Synagogue of the Ari is Safed's oldest house of worship. Historical sources refer to this synagogue as early as 1522. It was originally dedicated to Elijah the Prophet, almost 300 years before the Ari (Rabbi Isaac Luria) arrived in the city.
Erfurt in central Germany is home to one of the best preserved medieval synagogues in Europe: parts of the building date back to the late 11th century, though most of the structure is mid-13th-century in origin. The Old Synagogue today serves as a museum.
Completed in 1190, the Synagogue of Santa María la Blanca in Toledo is another one of Europe's oldest former synagogue buildings still standing. It was consecrated as a church in the 15th century following the expulsion of the Jews from the Iberian Peninsula and officially remains so, though it is no longer used for worship and is now open as a museum.
Prague's beautiful Alteneu Shul (Old-New Synagogue) is Europe's oldest active synagogue. The building dates back to 1270, and legend suggests that the figure of a Golem (an animated anthropomorphic being in Jewish folklore) created by Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel (1526–1609) lies in the attic where the genizah (or store room) of Prague's community is kept. Fortunately, the Gestapo neglected to enter the genizah during the Nazi occupation of the city in the Second World War, thus sparing the building from destruction.
According to local folklore, the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Old Cairo is located on the site where baby Moses was found. There is nothing to suggest the legend is true, but in the 19th century the synagogue did give up a treasure trove of stored-away Hebrew, Aramaic, and Judeo-Arabic secular and sacred manuscripts, rediscovered in the building's genizah.
The Hobart Synagogue in Tasmania is the oldest synagogue building in Australia. Consecrated in 1845, the building is a rare example of the Egyptian Revival style of synagogue architecture, and still serves as a focal point of Jewish culture in the city.
Plymouth, a port city in South West England, is home to the oldest surviving Ashkenazi synagogue in continuous use in the English-speaking world. Built in 1762, the synagogue is celebrated for its elaborate Baroque Torah Ark (pictured), which stands the full height of the building.
The main synagogue of the Jewish community in Copenhagen since 1833, the Great Synagogue was built according to plans by Danish architect Gustav Friedrich Hetsch (1788–1864). While the exterior is fairly elementary in its aspect, the interior features Egyptian elements in the columns, ceiling, and cornice over the ark—one of the few synagogues of its period to employ such a design signature.
Built on the foundations of a synagogue established in 1221, Avignon's present synagogue dates back to 1846. The Jewish community has been part of Avignon for several centuries, and the Jewish Quarter was originally northwest of the Place du Palais. It was moved to an enclosed quarter around the Place Jerusalem after complaints of harassment and anti-Semitism.
Roonstrasse Synagogue in Cologne is one of the most visually impressive synagogues in Europe. Built between 1895 and 1899, it suffered extensive damage during Kristallnacht (Night of the Broken Glass) on November 9–10, 1938, and was rebuilt in 1959. It is the only surviving of the five synagogues that stood in Cologne before the Nazi era.
Also known as Rashi Shul, this 11th-century synagogue stands in the city of Worms, a city in Rhineland-Palatinate. During the pogroms of 1349 and 1615, the synagogue was badly damaged. Centuries later, it was reduced to rubble during Kristallnacht, but was reconstructed in 1961 to its original design using as many of the original stones as could be salvaged.
The largest synagogue in Europe is this one, Dohány Street Synagogue in Budapest. Built between 1854 and 1859, it stands on the site of the house where Theodor Herzl (1860–1904), father of modern political Zionism, was born.
Founded by Jews expelled from the Iberian Peninsula in the 1490s, the Spanish Synagogue stands resplendent in the former Venetian Ghetto area of Venice. The synagogue's ornate interior features a huge sculptured wooden ceiling. This is a functioning synagogue, open for services from Passover until the end of Yamim Noraim (High Holiday season).
Padua Synagogue was consecrated in 1584 and served the city's Jewish community until 1892, when it was replaced by a new synagogue. After fascists torched the modern building in 1943, the original synagogue was reopened, with much of the 16th-century interior still intact, including a splendid Torah Ark and an elaborate carved wooden Bimah. Padua Synagogue also features a historic women's gallery, situated on the upper level.
The aptly-named Old Synagogue in Kraków is indeed the oldest synagogue building still standing in Poland. Built during the 15th century, the Old Synagogue was ransacked during the Second World War and was renovated in the 1950s. It now serves as a division of the Historical Museum of Kraków.
Óbidos is one of Portugal's most scenic medieval walled towns. The historic Sephardic synagogue is located in the old Jewish Quarter and dates back to the 14th century. It is not open to the public, but remains one of the town's most photographed buildings.
Bevis Marks Synagogue in the City of London is the oldest synagogue in the United Kingdom in continuous use. The synagogue, which was opened in 1701, stands in a secluded courtyard. Carved in Hebrew above the entrance is written Kahal Kadosh Shaar Asamaim, meaning "Holy Congregation The Gates of Heaven."
Built in 1930, Melbourne Synagogue in the suburb of South Yarra is an orthodox Jewish synagogue seating 1,300 persons underneath its extraordinary purple dome. The Melbourne Hebrew Congregation was formed in 1841.
The highly ornate Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue in Recife was built in 1636 and was the first synagogue erected in the Americas. The original 17th-century foundations have been excavated to provide worshippers and visitors with a fascinating historical reference.
Listed as a National Historic Landmark, St. Thomas Synagogue in Charlotte Amalie on the island of Saint Thomas dates back to 1833, and is the second oldest synagogue in the territory of the United States, after Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island.
Its richly decorated interior has made El Ghriba Synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba one of the most visited synagogues in the region. It was built at the end of the 19th century, though the site has existed for nearly 2,000 years.
Il Cal Grande Esnoga is a Sephardic synagogue in Sarajevo completed in 1587. It's the oldest synagogue in Bosnia and Herzegovina, built by the first Sephardim to arrive in the city during the Spanish Inquisition.
Also known as the Esnoga (the word for synagogue in Judaeo-Spanish, the traditional Judaeo-Spanish language of Sephardi Jews), the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam was completed in 1675 during the Dutch Golden Age, a period when trade, science, and art flourished. The synagogue's attractive and ornamental interior reflects this wealthy and creative era.
Casale Monferrato's synagogue has been situated in the building in what is now known as Vicolo Salomone Olper since 1595. The sumptuously decorated interior is simply dazzling, its Baroque walls and ceiling embellished with elaborate paintings, carvings, and gilding. Casale Monferrato is one of the few synagogues that survived in Piedmont, which once had many.
One of the first synagogues erected in the United States by Eastern European Jews, Eldridge Street Synagogue in Manhattan, New York City, is imposing and magnificently decorated, its interior awash with stained-glass rose windows, elaborate brass fixtures, and hand-stenciled walls. Built in 1887, it's now open to the general public as the Museum at Eldridge Street.
A synagogue is a Jewish place of worship. One of the earliest references to a synagogue dates from 150 to 128 BCE, or earlier, and is located on the island of Delos, in Greece. These historic synagogues represent the earliest Jewish presence in cities and destinations around the world, where worshippers are brought together in often beautifully designed and highly decorative buildings. So, where in the world can you admire some of the oldest and most ornate synagogues?
Click through and take the tour.
Historic synagogues from around the world
Where can you admire some of the oldest and most ornate synagogues?
TRAVEL Religion
A synagogue is a Jewish place of worship. One of the earliest references to a synagogue dates from 150 to 128 BCE, or earlier, and is located on the island of Delos, in Greece. These historic synagogues represent the earliest Jewish presence in cities and destinations around the world, where worshippers are brought together in often beautifully designed and highly decorative buildings. So, where in the world can you admire some of the oldest and most ornate synagogues?
Click through and take the tour.