Also known as: Neue Synagoge Built: 1859-1866 Designed by: Eduard Knoblauch and August Stuehler Renovated: 1988-1995 Type: Holy Place Location: Oranienburgerstraße, Berlin, Germany
Building Rating 60% of readers like the New Synagogue.
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W hile this building is no longer a place of worship, it has been restored to its former glory as a museum documenting Jewish life in the area. When it opened in 1866, it could seat three thousand and its size and Moorish dome were a reflection of the vitality of the neighborhood. Women sat in the balcony which could accommodate 1,000 people. It was damaged in the 1938 Kristallnacht, but was prevented from being burned down by a lone police officer. It was just a few blocks away that the Nazis set up a staging area for the deportation of Jews to concentration camps. Further damage took place just two years later when the army used it as a military clothing store, and then again in 1943 when it was hit by Allied bombs. By 1958 it was a ruin, and was torn down with the exception of its façade and entrance. Today, in addition to the museum of Jewish life, it serves as the archives of the Centrum Judaicum Neue Synagoge Foundation, and a Jewish adult education center (Juedische Volkshochschule.)
