The Great Synagogue of Rome ( it, Tempio Maggiore di Roma) is the largest synagogue in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

History

The Jewish community of Rome goes back to the 2nd century B.C when the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

had an alliance of sorts with

Judea Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous sou ...

under the leadership of Judah Maccabeus. At that time, many Jews came to Rome from Judea. Their numbers increased during the following centuries due to the settlement that came with

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

trade. Then large numbers of Jews were brought to Rome as slaves following the Jewish–Roman wars in

from 63 to 135 CE. Brockhaus and Efron Jewish Encyclopedia e13 507-0

The present Synagogue was constructed shortly after the

unification of Italy The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...

in 1870, when the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to an institutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and f ...

captured

and the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

ceased to exist. The

Roman Ghetto The Roman Ghetto or Ghetto of Rome ( it, Ghetto di Roma) was a Jewish ghetto established in 1555 in the Rione Sant'Angelo, in Rome, Italy, in the area surrounded by present-day Via del Portico d'Ottavia, Lungotevere dei Cenci, Via del Progresso ...

was demolished and the

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

s were granted

citizenship Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

. The building which had previously housed the ghetto synagogue (a complicated structure housing five ''scolas'' (the Italian-Jewish term for synagogues) in a single building was demolished, and the Jewish community began making plans for a new and impressive building. Commemorative plates have been affixed to honour the local Jewish victims of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

and of a

Abu Nidal Organization The Abu Nidal Organization (ANO) is the most common name for the Palestinian nationalist militant group Fatah – The Revolutionary Council (''Fatah al-Majles al-Thawry''). The ANO is named after its founder Abu Nidal. It was created by a spli ...

attack in 1982. On 13 April 1986,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

made an unexpected visit to the Great Synagogue. This event marked the first known visit by a

pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

to a synagogue since the early history of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. He prayed with

Rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

Elio Toaff, the then Chief Rabbi of Rome. In 2010 Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni hosted a visit from

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...

, while Pope Francis visited the synagogue on 17 January 2016. The synagogue celebrated its centenary in 2004. In addition to serving as a house of worship, it is also serves a cultural and organizational centre for ''la Comunità Ebraica di Roma'' (the Jewish community of Rome). It houses the offices of the Chief Rabbi of Rome, as well as the Jewish Museum of Rome. On 17 January 2005, thirteen cantors, in conjunction with the Jewish Ministers Cantors Association of America (the Chazzanim Farband), performed in a cantorial concert for the first time in the synagogue's history. Pope Francis visited the Great Synagogue on 17 January, 2016. During his visit, the pope denounced all violence committed in the name of God, and joined in the diaspora as a sign of interfaith friendship. Pope Francis repeated several times the words first spoken by Pope John Paul, saying that Jews were the "elder brothers" of Christians. Pope Francis added Christian "elder sisters" of the Jewish faith to his words.

1982 attack

The synagogue was attacked on 9 October 1982 by 5 armed

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

terrorists at the close of the morning Sabbath service. One person, Stefano Gaj Taché (2 years), was killed.

Design

Tiber The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest List of rivers of Italy, river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where ...

, overlooking the former

ghetto A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...

. It contains elements of

Assyria Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...

n- Babylonian, Egyptian and Greco-Roman architecture. The eclectic style of the building makes it stand out, even in a city known for notable buildings and structures. This attention-grabbing design was a deliberate choice made by the community at the time who wanted the building to be a visible celebration of their freedom and to be seen from many vantage points in the city. The aluminium dome is the only square dome in the city and makes the building easily identifiable, even from a distance. The interior of the synagogue is lavishly decorated in the Art Nouveau style.

Gallery

Synagogue building

File:10 Roma Synagoge.jpg, The principal façade of the Great Synagogue, with the main entrance. File:2016 Sinagoga Tempio Maggiore di Roma.jpg, Side view of the building, seen from Lungotevere de' Cenci. File:Menorah and Tables of the Law on Great Synagogue (Rome).jpg, Detail of the façade with ornaments representing the Menorah and the Tables of the Law. File:Ghetto ebraico di Roma 04.jpg, One of the decorated wooden doors of the Synagogue. File:Visit a Ghetto di roma 2008 23.jpg, Inscription commemorating the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

and the

Raid of the Ghetto of Rome The Raid of the Ghetto of Rome took place on 16 October 1943. A total of 1,259 people, mainly members of the Jewish community—numbering 363 men, 689 women, and 207 children—were detained by the Gestapo. Of these detainees, 1,023 were identif ...

. File:Rom, Blick vom Giardino degli Aranci zur Großen Synagoge.JPG, The square dome of the Great Synagogue emerging over Rome's skyline. File:Tree planted in memory of Great Synagogue of Rome attack victim Stefano Gaj Taché.jpg, Tree planted in memory of Stefano Gaj Taché, the 2-year-old toddler killed in the attack. The commemorative plaque reads "Stefano Gaj Taché, victim of terrorism at only two years of age".

Jewish Museum

File:Il Museo Ebraico di Roma.jpg, File:Iner ornamental velvet covering Scroll of the Law,.jpg, File:Ornamental velvet covering Scroll of the Law,.jpg, File:Rings on the Scroll of the Law.jpg,

References

''“Tempio Maggiore di Roma (The Great Synagogue of Rome)”''

Notes

External links

Museum adjacent to Synagogue
{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Synagogue Of Rome Italki Jews topics Orthodox synagogues in Italy Religious buildings and structures in Rome Rome R. XI Sant'Angelo Jewish Roman (city) history Sephardi Jewish culture in Italy Sephardi synagogues Synagogues completed in 1904 1904 establishments in Italy Neoclassical architecture in Italy Neoclassical synagogues Beaux-Arts synagogues Synagogue buildings with domes