Synagogue de la rue des Tournelles, Jewish sanctuary in Le Marais, Paris, France
The Synagogue de la rue des Tournelles is a Jewish house of worship in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, with a Romanesque-Byzantine facade marked by large arches and a rose window. Inside, a metal framework carries the structure, and the vaulted nave opens onto a semicircular apse housing the Torah Ark.
The synagogue was built in 1876 to receive Jewish refugees from the Alsace-Lorraine region who had left after the Franco-Prussian War. It was classified as a protected monument in 1987.
The synagogue sits at the heart of the Marais, the historic Jewish quarter of Paris, where kosher shops and Jewish institutions still line the streets today. Though it was built for Ashkenazi worshippers, it now mainly serves Sephardic communities, a shift that can be noticed in the prayer style and interior details.
The synagogue is on Rue des Tournelles in the Marais and easy to reach on foot from several nearby metro stations. Since it is an active place of worship, it is worth checking visit conditions before heading there.
The metal framework inside was engineered by Gustave Eiffel, years before he started work on the tower that bears his name. This makes the building one of his early experiments with steel construction in a religious setting.
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