Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TOP SIGHT
NEUE SYNAGOGE
KARL JOHAENTGES/GETTY IMAGES ©
The gleaming gold dome of the Neue Synagoge is the most visible symbol of Berlin's re-
vitalised Jewish community. Architect Eduard Knoblauch looked to the Alhambra in
Granada for inspiration, which explains the exotic Moorish-Byzantine design elements, in-
cluding the elaborate facade and the shiny dome. The building was consecrated on Rosh
Hashanah in 1866 in the presence of Otto von Bismarck and other Prussian dignitaries. Seat-
ing 3200 people, it was Germany's largest synagogue.
During the 1938 Kristallnacht (Night of the Broken Glass) pogroms, a local police chief
prevented a gang of SA (
Sturmabteilung;
a militia of the Nazi party) from setting it on
fire, an act of courage commemorated by a plaque. The synagogue was eventually desec-
rated anyway, although not destroyed until hit by bombs in 1943. After the war, the ruin
lingered until reconstruction began in 1988 on the 50th anniversary of Kristallnacht.
