The Great Synagogue of Florence or Tempio Maggiore is one of the largest

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of wor ...

s in South-central Europe, situated in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

, in Italy. The synagogue of Florence was one of the most important synagogues built in Europe in the age of the

Jewish emancipation Jewish emancipation was the process in various nations in Europe of eliminating Jewish disabilities, e.g. Jewish quotas, to which European Jews were then subject, and the recognition of Jews as entitled to equality and citizenship rights. It in ...

, reached by the Jewish communities living in the

Grand Duchy of Tuscany The Grand Duchy of Tuscany ( it, Granducato di Toscana; la, Magnus Ducatus Etruriae) was an Italian monarchy that existed, with interruptions, from 1569 to 1859, replacing the Republic of Florence. The grand duchy's capital was Florence. In th ...

in 1848.

History and architecture

In 1848 in the Duchy of Tuscany, the

Jewish community 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""The ...

were given the status of free citizens. They thought of building a new synagogue to symbolize this change. But only later, could they raise the funds to build such a structure. David Levi, a president of the Jewish community, bequeathed his estate after his death in 1870 to build a new synagogue. The 'Israelitic Temple' was built between 1874 and 1882. The architects were , Professor , and Marco Treves, who was Jewish. Their design integrated the Italian architectural tradition with the Moorish style used for the decoration. The Moorish style was considered appropriate for a synagogue because it was never used for churches and, in the case of the new Synagogue of Florence, it was built in the Sefardic style. It served to remind Jews of the origins of Sefardic Jewry in

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–19 ...

Moorish The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or s ...

Spain. Layers of travertine and granite alternate in the masonry, creating a striped effect. Old photographs show bold red and beige stripes, but the bold colors of the stone have faded over time, leaving a more mottled effect.H.A. Meek, ''The Synagogue,'' Phaidon, London, 1995, p.198 The overall plan of the synagogue is quadrangular. The central dome raised on

pendentives In architecture, a pendentive is a constructional device permitting the placing of a circular dome over a square room or of an elliptical dome over a rectangular room. The pendentives, which are triangular segments of a sphere, taper to point ...

is reminiscent of the

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...

in Istanbul, which was built as a Byzantine Empire church, and many mosques were inspired by it. The corner towers are topped with horseshoe-arched towers, which have onion domes in the

Moorish Revival Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mid-19th centu ...

style. Three horseshoe arches form the main entrance, above which rise tiers of

ajimez A bifora is a type of window divided vertically in two openings by a small column or a mullion or a pilaster; the openings are topped by arches, round or pointed. Sometimes the bifora is framed by a further arch; the space between the two arches ...

windows, with their paired horseshoe arches sharing a single column. The natural copper roof was oxidized to green so that it would stand out in the Florentine skyline. Inside the building "every square inch is covered with colored designs," in Moorish patterns. The interior mosaics and frescoes are by Giovanni Panti. Giacomo del Medico designed the great arch. During World War II, Nazis soldiers occupied the synagogue, using it as a storehouse. In August 1944 retreating German troops worked with Italian Fascists to lay explosives to destroy the synagogue. But, Italian resistance fighters defused most of the explosives and only a limited amount of damage was done. The synagogue was fully restored after the war. Like many other buildings, it suffered damage after the flood of the River Arno in 1966, but another restoration was undertaken to correct the damage. File:Cupola del duomo di firenze, vista, sinagoga 01.JPG, Aerial view File:Sinagoga di firenze, interno_01.JPG, Interior File:Sinagoga di firenze, interno, cupola 02.JPG, Dome of the synagogue File:Sinagoga di firenze, entrata.JPG, Main entrance

Replicas of the Great Synagogue

The Great synagogue of Florence has been widely admired. Today it is often visited and it is possible to visit it every day, except on Saturdays. *The 1922 Beth Am Synagogue (formerly Chizuk Amuno), (

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...

) is of similar scale and character, using a number of design elements from the Great Synagogue. *The 1894 Second Luxembourg Synagogue was built as a replica of the Great Synagogue.

Jewish Museum

Jewish community in Florence

Today the Jewish community in Florence is composed of about 1,400 people. It has a long history, reaching to the medieval era. In addition, a nearby Jewish community in the Oltrarno area, south of the

Arno river The Arno is a river in the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the most important river of central Italy after the Tiber. Source and route The river originates on Monte Falterona in the Casentino area of the Apennines, and initially takes a so ...

, dates to the Roman era. Jews had a community in Rome since before the Common Era. It is thought that the first synagogue was probably built in the 13th century.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Buildings and structures in Florence Moorish Revival synagogues in Italy Orthodox synagogues in Italy Synagogues completed in 1882 Synagogues in Italy Tourist attractions in Florence Synagogue buildings with domes Jews and Judaism in Florence