Spanish Synagogue

Dake KangDake Kang/Guest Contributor/SIGHTSEEING, PRAGUE/ Updated : Jan 18, 2017, 12:53 IST

Spanish Synagogue

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Synopsis

The Spanish Synagogue differs completely in style and history from its sister synagogue located just blocks away, the Old New Synagogue. Built some 600 years later, the Spanish Synagogue gets its name from its intricate Moorish styling, which harkens back to the golden era of Jews in Spain. Constructed right outside the old medieval Jewish Ghetto of Prague, the Spanish Synagogue was one of the first synagogues in Prague located outside the Ghetto, as only two decades earlier were Jews officially allowed to live outside the Ghetto. With the advent of World War II, the Spanish Synagogue was shut down and the Nazi regime used it as a storehouse for objects confiscated from Jews evicted and sent to concentration camps.
Lying empty for decades during Communism, it was used as a textile storehouse by the Jewish museum in Prague until its restoration in 1995. Today, visitors can admire the elaborate gold plating and geometric patterning reminiscent of Islamic mosques, including two turrets topping the tower that mirror minarets. The beautiful central hall echoes, graced with the presence of a blue central dome lined with gold designs and a chandelier, and naturally a gold and blue arch and bimah dominates the central of the room, with an adjacent organ. This grand orientalist design was based off that of the famous Leopoldstädter Tempel in Vienna constructed ten years earlier. To catch a glimpse of its former glory, there’s no place better than the Spanish Synagogue.