The Spanish Synagogue ( he, בית הכנסת הספרדי, cs, Španělská synagoga, german: link=no, die Spanische Synagoge) is the newest

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

in the area of the so-called Jewish Town, yet paradoxically, it was built at the place of the presumably oldest synagogue, Old School (also known as Altshul). The synagogue is built in

Moorish Revival Style Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mid-19th centur ...

. Only a little park with a modern statue of famous

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

writer

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...

(by Jaroslav Róna) lies between it and the

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

of Holy Spirit. Today, the Spanish Synagogue is administered by the

Jewish Museum in Prague The Jewish Museum in Prague (Czech: Židovské muzeum v Praze) is a museum of Jewish heritage in the Czech Republic and one of the most visited museums in Prague. Its collection of Judaica is one of the largest in the world, about 40,000 objects ...

History

The Spanish Synagogue is not the first synagogue at the site. Before it there stood probably the oldest synagogue in Prague Jewish Town, ''Altschule''. In the second half of 19th century, the capacity of the ''Altschule'' did not suffice. The modernist faction in the community, which renovated it in 1837 for the purpose of moderately reformed services, therefore decided to demolish the synagogue in 1867 and one year later it was replaced by the new, Spanish Synagogue. Its name presumably refers to the style in which it was built,

Moorish Revival style Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mid-19th centur ...

, which was inspired by the art of Arabic period of Spanish history (this name was not always prevalent, in the beginnings it was usually called by German-speaking Jews Geistgasse-Tempel, i.e. Temple in Holy Spirit Street). The

architectural plan In architecture and building engineering, a floor plan is a technical drawing to scale, showing a view from above, of the relationships between rooms, spaces, traffic patterns, and other physical features at one level of a structure. Dimensio ...

s were designed by

Vojtěch Ignác Ullmann Vojtěch Ignác Ullmann (23 April 1822 in Prague – 17 September 1897 in Příbram) was a Czech architect working in Revivalism architecture, particularly Renaissance Revival architecture. Life Ullmann studied architecture at the Academy of Fin ...

and Josef Niklas (an imposing interior decoration). In 1935, a functionalistic building, designed by

Karel Pecánek Karel may refer to: People * Karel (given name) * Karel (surname) * Charles Karel Bouley, talk radio personality known on air as Karel * Christiaan Karel Appel, Dutch painter Business * Karel Electronics, a Turkish electronics manufacturer * Gr ...

, was added to the synagogue. Until

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

it served the Jewish Community as a hospital. The synagogue used the space of the new building as well; there was a vestibule and a winter oratory in it. Since 1935, the appearance of the synagogue has remained essentially unchanged. During the

confiscated Confiscation (from the Latin ''confiscatio'' "to consign to the ''fiscus'', i.e. transfer to the treasury") is a legal form of seizure by a government or other public authority. The word is also used, popularly, of spoliation under legal forms, ...

properties of Czech Jewish Communities were stored in the synagogue, e.g. the furniture from other synagogues. Ten years after the war, the synagogue was handed over to the

Jewish Museum A Jewish museum is a museum which focuses upon Jews and may refer seek to explore and share the Jewish experience in a given area. List of Jewish museums Notable Jewish museums include: *Albania ** Solomon Museum, Berat *Australia ** Jewish Mu ...

and in 1958–1959 it was completely restored inside. In the following year an exposition of synagogue textiles was opened there. In the 1970s the building became neglected and it was closed after 1982. The restoration started only after the Velvet revolution. Completely restored to its former beauty, the synagogue was re-opened with a ceremony in 1998.

Appearance

The synagogue itself is two

storey A storey (British English) or story (American English) is any level part of a building with a floor that could be used by people (for living, work, storage, recreation, etc.). Plurals for the word are ''storeys'' (UK) and ''stories'' (US). T ...

s high. Its

ground plan In architecture and building engineering, a floor plan is a technical drawing to scale, showing a view from above, of the relationships between rooms, spaces, traffic patterns, and other physical features at one level of a structure. Dimensi ...

is square. The main hall with a dome is surrounded by three built-in

balconies A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or Corbel, console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Malta, Malte ...

. At the south

balcony A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony is ...

, there is an organ. In the eastern wall there is a great round

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

window with a central ornament of

Magen David The Star of David (). is a generally recognized symbol of both Jewish identity and Judaism. Its shape is that of a hexagram: the compound of two equilateral triangles. A derivation of the '' seal of Solomon'', which was used for decorati ...

(

hexagram , can be seen as a compound composed of an upwards (blue here) and downwards (pink) facing equilateral triangle, with their intersection as a regular hexagon (in green). A hexagram ( Greek language, Greek) or sexagram (Latin) is a six-pointed ...

), installed in 1882–1883. Underneath it there is a monumental aron ha-kodesh. The most impressive decorative element in the synagogue is a gilded and multi-colored parquet

arabesque The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foli ...

. Its designers, Antonín Baum and Bedřich Münzberger, were inspired by

Arabic architecture Islamic architecture comprises the architectural styles of buildings associated with Islam. It encompasses both secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam to the present day. The Islamic world encompasses a wide geographic ar ...

and

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

. The synagogue was decorated according to their design in 1882–1893. The disposition of the synagogue is

reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill#The Yorkshire Associati ...

– the reading platform, bimah, is situated at the eastern wall, not in the central space as in older synagogues. Benches (not original, but from synagogue in

Zruč nad Sázavou Zruč nad Sázavou () is a town in Kutná Hora District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 4,700 inhabitants. Administrative parts Villages of Domahoř, Dubina, Nesměřice and Želivec are administrative parts of Z ...

) stand in rows (as in a

), not around the walls. The aron ha-kodesh is designed in the style of

mihrab Mihrab ( ar, محراب, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the ''qibla'', the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a ''mihrab'' appears is thus the "qibla w ...

, and has no curtain (

parochet A ''parochet'' (Hebrew: פרוכת; Ashkenazi pronunciation: ''paroches'') meaning "curtain" or "screen",Sonne Isaiah (1962) 'Synagogue' in The Interpreter's dictionary of the Bible vol 4, New York: Abingdon Press pp 476-491 is the curtain that ...

) today.

Today

Since the last restoration in 1998, an exhibition about the modern history of Jews in the Czech Republic can be seen there. It begins with reforms initiated by enlightened Hapsburg Emperor Joseph II oly Roman Emperor which started the 'Jewish emancipation' and the social inclusion of Jews into the larger society. Many personalities, who have contributed to its economy, science and culture, are mentioned here. Traumatic events of the 20th century are also commemorated. The themes of modern times accords well with the relationship between the synagogue and the Reform Jewish Community. The European Cantors Association WW.cantors.eu held the concert for their 11th Annual Convention in the Spanish Synagogue in front of a packed crowd on 19 November 2016. Arranged as a tribute to ECA Convenor, Alex Klein, the concert was led by the Tel Aviv Cantorial Institute Choir conducted by rthodox JewishCantor Naftali Herstik.

References

Literature

* Pařík, Arno, Dana Cabanová a Petr Kliment, ''Pražské synagogy = Prague Synagogues = Prager Synagogen,'' 2. vydání, Praha: Židovské muzeum v Praze, 2011, s. 87–97. * Alina Heitlinger ''In the Shadows of the Holocaust and Communism:Czech and Slovak Jews Since 1945'', Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 2006 s.181

External links

{{commons category, Spanish Synagogue in Prague
"Spanish Synagogue"
Jewish Museum, Prague
"Spanish Synagogue"
Prague tourist guide
Ivan Kalmar. U. of Toronto. ''The Origin of the "Spanish Synagogue" of Prague''
1999, updated June 2006 Ashkenazi Jewish culture in the Czech Republic Ashkenazi synagogues Conservative Judaism in Europe Conservative synagogues Moorish Revival architecture in the Czech Republic Moorish Revival synagogues Synagogues completed in 1868 Synagogues in Prague Museums in Prague Synagogues preserved as museums Synagogue buildings with domes 1868 establishments in Austria-Hungary Josefov (Prague) Former synagogues in the Czech Republic