Great Choral Synagogue, Synagogue on Shchekavytska Street, Podil, Kyiv, Ukraine

The Great Choral Synagogue stands at 29 Shchekavytska Street in Podil, on the site of a residential house that Hessel Rozenberg obtained a permit to build in 1894. His son Gabriel Jacob Rozenberg then had a prayer house moved into it, and it opened in 1895. Architect Nikolay Gordenin designed the building; Valerian Rykov reconstructed it in 1915 with Moorish Revival elements, financed by Vladimir Ginzburg.

Gabriel Jacob Rozenberg obtained a permit in 1894 for a residential house at 29 Shchekavytska Street, then had a prayer house moved into it; the synagogue opened in 1895, designed by Nikolay Gordenin. Vladimir Ginzburg financed a 1915 reconstruction by Valerian Rykov in Moorish Revival style. Soviet authorities closed it in 1929, and under German occupation it was used as a horse stable. It reopened as a synagogue in 1945.

The synagogue is led by Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich, who took the post in 1990, and a yeshiva was established alongside it. In 1969 a matzah bakery was set up in the building. Visitors can see stained-glass windows by Yevhen and Olena Kotliar and a bronze sculpture, the Jerusalem Sphere, by Frank Meisler.

The synagogue stands at 29 Shchekavytska Street in Podil, a short walk from the Kontraktova Square tram and metro stops. It is an active Orthodox congregation, so men cover their heads and visitors avoid prayer hours for sightseeing. A 2014 firebomb caused no significant damage, and the building reopened after restoration on 4 March 2003.

In 1893 Kyiv's interior minister forbade Jews from building a choral prayer house anywhere in the city. Hessel Rozenberg obtained a permit for a residential house at 29 Shchekavytska Street in 1894; his son Gabriel then had a prayer house moved into it, and it opened in 1895. During the German occupation the building was used as a horse stable.