High Synagogue ( cs, Vysoká synagoga) was financed by
Mordechai Maisel Mordecai Marcus Meisel ( cs, Miška Marek Majzel; 1528, Prague – 13 March 1601, Prague) was a philanthropist and communal leader in Prague.
Biography
Born to the Meisel family. In 1542 and 1561 his family, with the other Jewish inhabitants, w ...
, and it was finished in 1568, the same year as the
Jewish Town Hall. Probably it was modelled after
High Synagogue, Kraków
High may refer to:
Science and technology
* Height
* High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area
* High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory
* High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift ...
, which was built in 1556 in
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
. The house was designed by P. Roder in
Renaissance style
Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...
(supervising builder was master Rada). It was designed as a preaching place for councilors of
Jewish town hall. In the center there were
bimah, surrounded by seats.
Mordechai Maisel Mordecai Marcus Meisel ( cs, Miška Marek Majzel; 1528, Prague – 13 March 1601, Prague) was a philanthropist and communal leader in Prague.
Biography
Born to the Meisel family. In 1542 and 1561 his family, with the other Jewish inhabitants, w ...
gave pieces of
Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...
and silver tools to the synagogue. The
stucco
Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...
ceiling was
gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
ribbed vaulting.
In 1689 it was destroyed by the
Great Fire. The synagogue was reconstructed.
In 1883 the synagogue was rebuilt by J. M. Wertmüller. During this modification the facade was simplified to the modern appearance.
In 1907 the eastern entrance was closed, and a new entrance was made facing
Red Street (''Červená ulice'').
Other reconstructions were during 1961, 1974–79 and 1982.
During the Nazi and communist rule, the synagogue was part of Jewish Museum and there was an exhibition of old Hebrew books.
{{coord, 50.090, N, 14.419, E, display=title, source:cswiki
Religious buildings and structures completed in 1568
Synagogues completed in 1883
Synagogues in Prague
16th-century synagogues
1568 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire
Josefov (Prague)