New Synagogue (Mainz)

New Synagogue
German: Neuen Synagoge
The synagogue façade in 2022
Religion
Affiliation	Judaism
Rite	Nusach Ashkenaz
Ecclesiastical or organisational status	Synagogue
Status	Active
Location
Location	Synagogenplatz, Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate
Country	Germany
Location of the synagogue in Rhineland-Palatinate
Geographic coordinates	50°0′31″N8°15′34″E / 50.00861°N 8.25944°E / 50.00861; 8.25944
Architecture
Architect(s)	Manuel Herz
Type	Synagogue architecture
Style	Modernist
Completed	2010
Construction cost	€11 million
Specifications
Direction of façade	East
Capacity	450 worshippers
Materials	Concrete
[1]

The New Synagogue (German : Neuen Synagoge) is a Jewish congregation, community center, and synagogue, located on Synagogenplatz, Mainz in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, in Germany. The Modernist-styled building was erected in 2010, on the site of the former main synagogue, destroyed in 1938, on the Hindenburgstraße ^{[lower-alpha 1]} of Mainz Neustadt  [ de ].

Initial position and planning

Mainz, known to the Jews as Magenza  [ de ], was an important Jewish centre on the Rhine and has had impressive synagogues for many centuries. The Kristallnacht of 1938 ended this tradition. After the Second World War, the remains and premises of Mainz synagogues accommodated only a small group of returned community members. Before the fall of the Berlin Wall the community had a mere 140 citizens in total^{[ citation needed ]}. In the 1990s, a large number of immigrants from Eastern Europe grew the community and new space was required. By December 2006, the community had grown to number 1,050 members.^{[ citation needed ]}

In 1999, there was a competition to design a new synagogue building and a Jewish community centre. The winner was architect Manuel Herz. The estimated cost was approximately €11 million and the city of Mainz gave assurances it would contribute €3.5 million. The financing model outlined that the city, Rhineland-Palatinate, and the Federal Republic of Germany each contribute one-third of the construction costs. A building permit was issued in 2000. The demolition of the general customs office building (erected in 1955) at the site was not started until October 2008.^{[ citation needed ]}

The prayer sanctuary of the New Synagogue offers approximately 450 places which corresponds to five times the previous prayer capacity. The draft reminded the deconstructivist architecture and symbolic organisation of the Jewish Museum, Berlin.^{[ citation needed ]}

A Magenza foundation under the patronage of Prime Minister Kurt Beck and Lord Mayor Jens Beutel was committed to the building and sustaining this new synagogue, and a further 29 citizens and notables from Mainz and the region belong to the establishment founders.^{[ citation needed ]}

Architecture

The building reflects the Jewish-liturgical term Kedushah (Hebrew : קדושה, romanized: sanctification and exaltation ^[3] ). Cologne architect, Manuel Herz, intended to symbolize this with the five Hebrew letters the five ranges of the Jewish center for community events, adult education and as Hebrew school for school children. The letterforms were originally developed from picture symbols, from which the initial at the beginning of the respective symbol was associated later. Hebrew letters attain an object character, a quality of the representational one. The eastward-directed, (towards Jerusalem), horn-shaped roof of the assembly place represents a shofar. Mythologically the shofar stands for communication with God. ^[4] This form is used to express the call of the community after YHWH, for listening to and receiving of eternal divine light and its wisdom. Traditionally the community was summoned together by blowing the shofar.^{[ citation needed ]}

The synagogue contains a festival room, Mikveh, kosher kitchen, club room, kindergarten, classroom, social service, community office, library, meeting room and apartments. The Jewish community in Mainz offers an active cultural program, which is also open to non-Jewish visitors. The architect Manuel Herz received the German front prize for rainscreen fronts (VHF) in 2011. The building received the nomination for the Mies van der Rohe Prize for European Architecture, German Facade Prize 2011.^{[ citation needed ]}

Completion

The foundation stone for the synagogue was laid on November 23, 2008. Andreas Berg and Dr Peter Waldmann wrote the text for the foundation stone. ^[5] The topping out ceremony was committed on October 16, 2009. ^[6] The inauguration was held on September 3, 2010, following weather delays; ^[7] this date was the anniversary of the inauguration of the former synagogue in 1912. Attendees at the inauguration included Prime Minister Beck, Mayor Beutel, Federal President^{[ clarification needed ]} Christian Wulff, and Yoram Ben-Zeev, the Israeli Ambassador.^{[ citation needed ]}

Gallery

• 
  New Synagogue Mainz
• 
  In the foreground remains of the former Main Synagogue from 1912

See also

• Germany portal
• Judaism portal

• History of the Jews in Germany
• List of synagogues in Germany (in German)

Notes

1. The street was renamed as Synagogenplatz, due to controversial discussions surrounding Paul von Hindenburg. ^[2]

References

1. "Contemporary Synagogue in Mainz". Historic synagogues of Europe. Foundation for Jewish Heritage and the Center for Jewish Art at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. n.d. Retrieved June 22, 2024.
2. "Namensgebung "Synagogenplatz" an historischem Datum: Jahrestag der Befreiung des Vernichtungslagers Auschwitz". Pressemitteilung der Stadt Mainz (in German). January 27, 2009. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
3. Herz, Manuel. Synagogen-Zentrum Mainz – Licht der Diaspora (in German). ohne Seitenzahl. p. 8. (Broschüre).
4. "Hearing the Sound of the Shofar". CBN.com. Retrieved August 11, 2017.
5. "Text der Grundsteinrolle" (PDF). jgmainz.de (in German). Archived from the original (PDF) on May 30, 2015.
6. "Jüdische Gemeinde feiert Richtfest in der Hindenburgstraße". der Allgemeinen Zeitung (in German). October 16, 2009. Archived from the original on August 19, 2010. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
7. "Bundespräsident Wulff zu Gast beim Festakt für Synagogen-Neubau in Mainz". der Allgemeinen Zeitung (in German). August 16, 2010. Archived from the original on August 19, 2010. Retrieved April 16, 2017.

External links

• "Flyer Magenza" (PDF). Mains Tourism. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 10, 2016.
• "New synagogue inaugurated in Mainz by Germany's head of state". World Jewish Congress.