The Worms Synagogue, also known as Rashi Shul, is an 11th-century synagogue located in

Worms, Germany Worms () is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, situated on the Upper Rhine about south-southwest of Frankfurt am Main. It had about 82,000 inhabitants . A pre-Roman foundation, Worms is one of the oldest cities in northern Europe. It wa ...

. Situated in the northern part of the city center, the synagogue is one of the oldest in Germany. Because of its historical importance and its testimony to the European Jewish cultural tradition through millennia, the Worms Synagogue was inscribed on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage List A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

in 2021(along with other medieval Jewish cultural sites in

Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ''Speier'', French: ''Spire,'' historical English: ''Spires''; pfl, Schbaija) is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the river Rhine, Speyer li ...

and

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

History

The first synagogue at the site was built in 1034 and is therefore regarded as the oldest existing synagogue in Germany. The building was destroyed during the

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic r ...

in 1096 and subsequently rebuilt in 1175 in the Romanesque style. In 1186 southwest of the synagogue a subterranean mikveh was constructed. During the

pogrom A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russia ...

s of 1349 and 1615 the synagogue was badly damaged: in both pogroms the vaulted ceilings and the walls were heavily damaged. During reconstruction after 1355 Gothic forms for the window and the vault were chosen. Of comparable seriousness was the damage after the fire of 1689 during the Nine Years' War. When the building was restored in 1700, the interior was renovated in period style. On

Kristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation fro ...

in 1938 the synagogue was once again attacked and reduced to rubble. It was painstakingly reconstructed in 1961, using as many of the original stones as could be salvaged. The synagogue, open as a museum, continues to be a functioning synagogue used by the Jewish community. In May 2010, the synagogue was firebombed by arsonists, suspected to be anti-Zionists. The firebombs were thrown against eight corners of the stone building and against a window, but no one was injured and no serious damage to the building was reported.

Architecture

Built at the point when late Romanesque style was fading and Gothic rising, the rectangular prayer hall features a pair of Romanesque columns supporting groin vaults. The windows in the thick stone walls are simple gothic arches. The windows in the adjoining study hall, the so-called ''

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compre ...

Shul'', have rounded Romanesque arches. The women’s section of the prayer hall has Romanesque windows in the eastern wall, and gothic windows in the western wall.Meek, H.A. ''The Synagogue''. Phaidon, London, 1995, pp.82-88 V10p325001 Rashi Synagogue.jpg, Pre-1938 interior of the Rashi Shul WormsSynagogeInnen.jpg, Interior Grundriss Synagoge Worms.tif, Plan of the synagogue

References

External links

Worms tourism site on the synagogue
{{Authority control, state=collapsed Buildings and structures in Worms, Germany Gothic architecture in Germany Romanesque and Gothic synagogues Synagogues in Germany 11th-century synagogues Religious buildings and structures in Rhineland-Palatinate Rebuilt synagogues World Heritage Sites in Germany Religious buildings and structures completed in 1034 1030s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire