Little Synagogue on the Prairie

The Little Synagogue on the Prairie is a wooden building at Heritage Park Historical Village in Calgary with a prayer room, Torah scroll storage, a kitchen, and Star of David decorations throughout. The interior shows how a small rural community set up their religious home.

The building was constructed in 1913 as the Montefiore Institute and served about thirty Jewish farming families who settled in Sibbald, Alberta. These families created a rare center of religious life in a sparsely settled region.

The building tells the story of how a small Jewish community maintained their traditions in the prairie, far from major cities. Visitors see traditional religious objects and understand how important this place was to the farming families who gathered here.

The building is open daily as part of Heritage Park and offers guided tours and educational programs. Visitors should take time to view the interior carefully and participate in the explanations provided.

The structure was the first Jewish house of worship to be permanently displayed in a Canadian historical park after its relocation in 2008. This preservation keeps alive an almost forgotten history of Jewish prairie settlers.