Great Synagogue, Synagogue in Plzeň, Czech Republic
The Great Synagogue in Plzeň is a red-brick and pale-stone building with two towers topped by red-and-grey striped onion domes and gold finials. Its gabled centre carries a large six-pointed star in a carved frame above three arched windows. Inside, a blue barrel vault with gold patterns rests on pinkish stone columns, with an organ in the far arched recess.
Max Fleischer's Gothic design with twin 65-metre towers was rejected by city councillors in 1888; Emmanuel Klotz's revised plan, with towers lowered by 20 metres, was built by Rudolf Štech and completed in 1893. During World War II the synagogue was used as a warehouse, which spared it from destruction.
The synagogue's name in Czech, Velká synagoga, simply means "Great Synagogue". The central hall now hosts concerts and exhibitions, and the walls have displayed photographic shows. Since 1998 the first service after decades was held on Rosh Hashanah, 20 September, and a Torah scroll was carried from the Old Synagogue at the 2022 reopening.
The synagogue stands on sady Pětatřicátníků in central Plzeň, with a two-storey rabbinical house in its courtyard. The main hall now serves concerts and exhibitions, while worship is held in the former winter prayer room. The interior was renovated between 2019 and 2022.
A memorial sheet found inside the north tower's dome records construction costs of 141,092.06 florins, while an English-language source gives 162,138 florins. The towers stand 45 metres high, 20 metres lower than Max Fleischer's rejected 65-metre plan.
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