Explore Religious Heritage Across Europe

The Great Synagogue of Florence was built from 1874 to 1882, shortly after the Florentine ghetto and its two synagogues ceased to function in 1848. The construction of this Moorish style synagogue was made possible thanks to the bequest of David Levi, an Italian Jewish poet and academic.

The Great Synagogue of Luxembourg was first built in 1823, but in 1891, the synagogue gave way to the Congregation of Notre-Dame. In 1894, a new Moorish-style synagogue was built according to the plans of the architects Ludwig Levy and Charles Arendt. In May 1941, it was desecrated by the Gestapo and gradually demolished until 1943, as it became difficult to find a company willing to undertake its restoration. The present synagogue, whose plans were drawn up by architects Victor Engels and René Mailliet, was built between 1951 and 1953.

The Great Synagogue of the Old Town is an Ashkenazi synagogue built in the late 16th - early 17th century. It is believed that the synagogue was put out of use in the 1930s. The brick building of Gothic Survival style now serves as a factory.

The Great Synagogue (Hoykhe Shul) was erected in 1834. The synagogue consists of an elongated building decorated with pilasters. Twelve windows, set at the level of the upper floor, illuminate the rectangular main prayer hall. The synagogue includes three spaces with wall and ceiling paintings: the main prayer hall, the women’s gallery, and the heated small prayer hall.

The Great Synagogue at Constanța was built in the 1910s in the Moorish style. During the inter-war period, there were two large synagogues in the city: the Sephardic-Romaniote Synagogue (built in 1908 in the Catalan Gothic style) and the Great Synagogue which is Ashkenazi. The Sephardic-Romaniote synagogue was damaged in the 1977 earthquake and was later demolished under Ceausescu's regime (1974-1989).

The Great Synagogue in Dubno was built from 1782 to 1794. It was damaged during World War II and the Holocaust and since then has remained empty. It is a brick building in a baroque neoclassical style. There are reportedly underground tunnels between the synagogue and the castle in Dubno.

The Great Synagogue of Grodno was built from 1576 to 1580 designed by Santi Gucci. Made from wood the synagogue burned down in 1902 and was rebuilt from 1902 to 1905 in the Moorish style as a complex of schools. The building was returned to the Jewish community in 1991, but it remains in disrepair.

The Great Synagogue in Husiatyn was constructed in the mid-16th century as a fortress synagogue in the Renaissance style. It was damaged following World War II, and in 1972 the building was renovated and turned into a museum. The building is now vacant and in disrepair.

The Great Synagogue of Iași was built between 1657 and 1671 and is the oldest synagogue still in activity in Romania. It is possible that the Great Synagogue in Iasi was originally built in wood due to the general prohibition of stone synagogues. Damaged by a fire in 1822, the woodwork and painting were destroyed and restored. A new round of restoration work was carried out in 1914. In 1939, the Great Synagogue was one of the 112 Jewish prayer houses in Iași. In front of the synagogue, a high obelisk was inaugurated in 1976 in memory of the victims of the Pogrom of Iași on 28 and 29 June 1941.

The Great Synagogue in Lutsk was constructed in 1629 as a fortress synagogue. It was the religious, educational, and community centre of Lutsk until it was partially destroyed in 1942 as part of World War II. The synagogue was restored in the 1970s and is now used as a sports club.