Explore Religious Heritage Across Europe

The Great Synagogue in Kraśnik is an Ashkenazi synagogue built between 1637 and 1654. The synagogue was restored in the 18th century but also after 1945, in 1989 and finally in 2006. This Baroque brick building now serves as a cultural centre.

The Great Synagogue of Ludza is an Ashkenazi synagogue built between 1800 and 1804. The original wooden structure was covered with bricks at the beginning of the 20th century, but a restoration in 2016 restored the building to its original appearance. This baroque building is still in use as a synagogue.

The Great Synagogue in Lyon is an Ashkenazi synagogue completed in 1864 by architect Abraham Hirsch. This Neo-Romanesque stone building still serves as a synagogue.

The Great Synagogue in Marseille is a Sephardi synagogue from 1864. The architect of the synagogue is Salomon Nathan. This Neo-Romanesque stone building still serves as a synagogue.

The synagogue in Miskolc, designed by Ludwig Förster in a combined Neo-Romanesque and Neo-Moorish style - a synthetic style invented by Förster and his circle and now called Romantic Historicism, was built in 1861-63. Currently, the synagogue is in use (2018).

The Great (Glavnaia) Synagogue in Odessa in Kherson is an Ashkenazi synagogue built between 1847 and 1850 by architect Francesco Morandi (1811–1894). This Rundbogenstil brick building still serves as a synagogue.

The synagogue in Orla was designed in the Baroque style in the middle of the 17th century with a building plan for nine bays and a vaulted ceiling. The synagogue has been rebuilt and remodeled many times. In the early 19th century, two wooden staircases were added to the women's gallery and the façade of the synagogue received a classical design. The wooden Torah ark, the murals on the eastern wall of the prayer hall, and its columns are original to the time of the construction of the synagogue. The murals on the eastern wall were connected to the wood and stucco ark and are partially preserved. The decoration theme includes peacocks and other birds, and garlands and grapevines. The murals in the arch above the entrance with 'the four animals' motif were painted in the 1920s.

The synagogue may have been built in the mid-19th century, in the Neo-Classicist style. Its brick walls are decorated with pilasters that echo the pilasters in the prayer hall (both have corner pilasters and coupled pilasters in the center of the walls). The placement of pilasters in the interior allows us to assume that the vaults initially rested upon a bimah support situated in the center of the prayer hall. The main entrance to the synagogue is situated in the western façade. The women's section is on the upper floor of the western volume above the vestibule. Its entrance was by a wooden staircase attached to the southern façade (not preserved). The Hebrew newspaper Hamelitz (No. 179, 12[25].8.1902, p. 2-3) stated that the synagogue was re-inaugurated in August 1902, and that the repair was undertaken by the gabbai (warden) of the synagogue, Horovitz. It stands to reason that the repair included the demolition of the original vaults, bimah, and the construction of a new wooden dome on the interior and a new roof. It seems also that the original windows of the prayer hall were enlarged and a round window above the Torah ark was inserted (or remodeled). The women's section was connected to the prayer hall through five large arches. The western gable of the new roof was decorated by two wooden figures of lions (the southern lion is still preserved). Judging from the style of paintings of the interior dome and of the Zodiac signs, it is probable that another renovation was undertaken in the 1920s before the measured drawings of 1929 were prepared. After WWII, the building was transformed into a storage facility. Some of the windows and the arcade of the women’s section were bricked up and a wooden gallery was erected in the prayer hall. Three wide gateways were made on the eastern wall and later bricked up as well.

The Great Synagogue in Otaci is an Ashkenazi synagogue dating from the mid-19th century. This Historicist brick building is now abandoned.

The Great Synagogue in Pazardzhik is a Sephardi synagogue built between 1850 and 1859 by the master builder Stavri Temelkov. The synagogue was restored in 1988-89. The stone building served as a synagogue until the 1940s and is now a museum.