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.
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 Great Synagogue of London was a former Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in the City of London, England, in the United Kingdom. The synagogue was, for centuries, the centre of Ashkenazi life in London. Built north of Aldgate in the 17th century, it was destroyed during World War II, in the Blitz.
Zamość Synagogue is a UNESCO-protected Renaissance synagogue built between 1610 and 1618 in Zamość, southeastern Poland. Erected during the times of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, it functioned as a place of worship for Polish Jews until World War II, when the Nazis turned the interior into a carpenters' workshop. The structure was spared from destruction and in 1992 it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site alongside the Old City of Zamość.
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 Halytska Synagogue, also called the Galitska Synagogue or Beit Yaakov Shul, is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, located at 97a Zhylianska Street, in Kyiv, in the Kyiv Oblast of Ukraine. The congregation worships in the Ashkenazi rite.
The Golden Rose Synagogue, known also as the Nachmanowicz Synagogue, or the Turei Zahav Synagogue was an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, located in Lviv, in what is now the Lviv Oblast in western Ukraine. The Golden Rose Synagogue, established in 1582 in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, was the oldest synagogue in what is now Ukraine. From September 1603 until 1801, the Golden Rose served as the main communal synagogue while the Great City Synagogue expanded its facilities. Both the Golden Rose and Great City synagogues were destroyed by Nazis during World War II.
Historic synagogues include synagogues that date back to ancient times and synagogues that represent the earliest Jewish presence in cities around the world. Some synagogues were destroyed and rebuilt several times on the same site. Others were converted into churches and mosques or used for other purposes.
Wilson's Arch is the modern name for an ancient stone arch in Jerusalem, the first in a row of arches that supported a large bridge connecting the Herodian Temple Mount with the Upper City on the opposite Western Hill. The Arch springs from the Western Wall and is still visible underneath later buildings set against the Wall. The name Wilson's Arch is also used to denote the hall that it partially covers, which is currently used as a synagogue. This hall opens towards the Western Wall Plaza at the Plaza's northeast corner, so that it appears on the left of the prayer section of the Western Wall to visitors facing the Wall.
The Great Synagogue is a former Orthodox Jewish synagogue, located at 33 Karaimska Street, in the Jewish quarter of Lutsk, in Volynska Oblast, Ukraine. The congregation worshipped in the Ashkenazi rite.
The Križevci Synagogue is a former Orthodox Jewish synagogue, located in Križevci, Croatia. Completed in 1895, the building was used as a synagogue until World War II when it was desecrated. Following the war, the building was used for cultural events, as a youth center, and, since 2014, as a visitor center.
The Great Synagogue is a Jewish synagogue, located in Sharhorod, in the Vinnytsia Oblast of Ukraine. Built in 1589 in what was then the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, it is one of the oldest synagogues in Ukraine.
Pohrebyshche Synagogue was a former Jewish synagogue, located in Pohrebyshche, a town in Vinnytsia Oblast, Ukraine. The wooden synagogue was built in 1690, to replace an earlier synagogue, and was destroyed by German Nazis during World War II.
The Choral Synagogue, also called the Great Synagogue, is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, located on Pylypa Orlyka Street, in Drohobych, Lviv Oblast in Ukraine. The congregation worships in the Ashkenazi rite.
The Great Synagogue was a former Jewish synagogue, located in Pidhaitsi, Ternopil Oblast in Ukraine. The congregation worshipped in the Ashkenazi rite. Built prior to 1648, the fortress synagogue was abandoned during World War II, was used for grain storage thereafter, then as a ruin before its collapse in 2019 and subsequent demolition.
The Great Synagogue or Choral Synagogue is a former Orthodox Jewish synagogue, located on Yaroslava Mudroho Street, in Bila Tserkva, in the Kyiv Oblast of Ukraine. The synagogue was built in the former Russian Empire in 1860 and the congregation worshipped in the Ashkenazi rite.
The Bershad Synagogue is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, located on Narodna Street, in Bershad, in the Vinnytsia Oblast of Ukraine. Built in the beginning of the 19th century, it is one of the very few synagogues in Ukraine that was neither destroyed during World War II nor closed by the Soviet authorities in the years after the war.
The Great Synagogue of Brody, also known as the Old Fortress Synagogue, is a former Orthodox Jewish synagogue, located in Brody, in the Lviv Oblast of Ukraine. The congregation worshipped in the Ashkenazi rite. Constructed in the mid-18th century in the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the building was significantly damaged by the Nazis in 1943, and has since fallen into disrepair.
The Great Maharsha Synagogue is a former Jewish synagogue, located in Ostroh, in the Rivne Oblast of Ukraine.
