The Neue Synagoge with its shimmering gilded dome is one of Berlin’s most beautiful buildings. It is a memorial and an important centre of Jewish life.

On the night of the 9th of November 1938, synagogues all over Germany were burnt down. The SA also set fire to the Neue Synagoge in Berlin (New Synagogue Berlin Centrum Judaicum Foundation ), but the head of the local police precinct, Wilhelm Krützfeld, insisting that it was a historical listed building, called the fire brigade to put out the fire. He was one of the few people on the night of the November Pogrom to stand up to the destruction and the persecution of their Jewish neighbours.

Today, the golden dome of the synagogue still gleams over the centre of Berlin. The building, which houses a permanent exhibition, is not only one of the city’s most outstanding buildings, but also a centre of Jewish culture and an important place of remembrance.

The history of the Neue Synagoge

Once, the Neue Synagoge was the biggest and most magnificent Jewish places of worship in Germany, and a confident expression of Berlin’s established Jewish citizenry. Designed by Eduard Knoblauch in the Moorish style, it was built between 1859 and 1866. When Knoblauch became seriously ill, Friedrich August Stüler took over the construction. Stüler was a major Prussian figure at the time, a student of Karl Friedrich Schinkel and one of Berlin’s foremost architects. With its ingenious spatial design and the sophisticated steel structure of its galleries and roof, the Neue Synagoge was an architectural wonder of its day. The large main hall and the galleries have space for up to 3000 worshippers. The building was crowned by a gilded dome visible for miles around. The entrance facade is lavishly decorated with brick ornamentation and flanked by two towers, also topped with gilded domes.