A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It has a place for prayer where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, choir performances, and children's plays. They also have rooms for study, social halls, administrative and charitable offices, classrooms for religious and Hebrew studies, and many places to sit and congregate. They often display commemorative, historic, or modern artwork alongside items of Jewish historical significance or history about the synagogue itself.
A Torah ark is an ornamental chamber in the synagogue that houses the Torah scrolls.
Synagogue architecture often follows styles in vogue at the place and time of construction. There is no set blueprint for synagogues and the architectural shapes and interior designs of synagogues vary greatly. According to tradition, the Shekhinah or divine presence can be found wherever there is a minyan, a quorum, of ten. A synagogue always contains an Torah ark where the Torah scrolls are kept, called the aron qodesh by Ashkenazi Jews and the hekhal by Sephardic Jews.
The Old New Synagogue, also called the Altneuschul, is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in Josefov, Prague, in the Czech Republic. The synagogue is Europe's oldest active synagogue. Completed in 1270, it is also the oldest surviving medieval synagogue of twin-nave design.
The Great Synagogue, officially, the Great City Synagogue in Vilna, also the Great Synagogue of Vilnius, is a former Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located atI-2 Jewish Street in the Old Town of Vilnius, in the Vilnius County of Lithuania.
The High Synagogue was a former Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, also known as the Tall Synagogue, located at Jozefa 38 Street, in the Kazimierz district of Kraków, in the Małopolskie Voivodeship of Poland.
The Kahal Shalom Synagogue is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in La Juderia, the Jewish quarter of the city of Rhodes on the island of Rhodes, in the South Aegean region of Greece. Completed in 1577, the synagogue building is the oldest synagogue in Greece. The congregation worships in the Eastern Sephardi rite, predominately in summer months only.
The Ibn Danan Synagogue is a synagogue in Fes, Morocco, dating from the 17th century. The synagogue is located in the Mellah district within Fes el-Jdid, one of the components of the historic medina of Fes.
The Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva Synagogue is a Hasidic Jewish congregation, synagogue, and yeshiva, located at 85 Lubartowska Street, in Lublin, in the Lublin Voivodeship of Poland.
The Izaak Synagogue, formally known as the Isaak Jakubowicz Synagogue, is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 18 Kupa Street, in the historic Kazimierz district of Kraków, in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship of Poland. Designed by Francesco Olivierri in the Baroque style and completed in 1644, the synagogue is named for its donor, Izaak Jakubowicz, also called Isaac the Rich, a banker to King Ladislaus IV of Poland.
The Włodawa Synagogue is a former Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue complex, located at 5-7 Czerwonego Krzyża Street, in Włodawa, in the Lublin Voivodeship of Poland. The synagogue complex comprises the Włodawa Great Synagogue, the Small Synagogue or Beit midrash, and a Jewish administrative building, all now preserved as a Jewish museum.
Wooden synagogues are an original style of vernacular synagogue architecture that emerged in the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The style developed between the mid-16th and mid-17th centuries, a period of peace and prosperity for the Polish-Lithuanian Jewish community. While many were destroyed during the First and Second World Wars, there are some that survive today in Lithuania.
The Łańcut Synagogue is a former Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in Łańcut, in Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Poland. Completed in 1761, it served as a house of prayer until World War II; subsequently used for profane purposes, and as a Jewish museum since 1981. The Łańcut Synagogue is a rare surviving example of the vaulted synagogues with a bimah-tower, that were built throughout the Polish lands in masonry from the sixteenth through the early nineteenth centuries.
The Przedbórz Synagogue was a former Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, that was located at the southeastern corner of the Main Square, at the intersection of today's Giełczyńska and Senatorska Streets, in Przedbórz, in the Łódź Voivodeship of Poland. Designed as a wooden synagogue and completed in 1889, the synagogue served as a house of prayer until World War II when it was destroyed by Nazis in 1939.
The Wołpa Synagogue was a synagogue located in the town of Voŭpa, in what is now western Belarus. It was reputed to be the "most beautiful" of the wooden synagogues of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a "masterwork" of wooden vernacular architecture.
Sandy's Row Synagogue is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located on Sandys Row, on the corner of Middlesex Street in Bishopsgate, in the East End, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London, England, in the United Kingdom.
The Scolanova Synagogue is a Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at Via Sinagoga 47, in the town of Trani, Puglia in Italy. Built by the Italian–Jewish community of Apulia during the Middle Ages, the building was acquired by the Roman Catholic Church in 1380 during a wave of antisemitism and served as St. Maria's Church until it was deconsecrated and returned to the Jewish community in 2006.
The Padua Synagogue, also called the Great Italian Synagogue in Padua, is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, that is located at San Martino e Solferino 9, in Padua, Veneto, Italy. Completed in 1548, it is the only synagogue still in use of the several that flourished in the university town of Padua from the Renaissance through World War II.
The Synagogue of Livorno is a historic synagogue in Livorno, Italy.
The Canton Synagogue is a former Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, that is located in the Jewish Ghetto of Venice, Italy.
