with Deelow and Sammy we visit the neo-renaissance building of the Spanish
synagogue one of the most important historical sites of Prague's jewish town
resided is a little park with the modern statue of the famous jewish writer franz
kafka I have to fall in line just to get a shot with him after that we walk
around looking for an entrance and we found that there's a fee to get in to
rejoin the crowd and went inside here is the history of the building this
synagogue is not the first one at the site before it there stood probably the
oldest synagogue in Prague I'll show in the second half of the 19th
century the capacity of the actual did not suffice so in 1867 it was demolished
in one year later it was replaced by the new Spanish synagogue the architectural
plans were designed by voltic ignite movement in yourself Niklas
it was built in Moorish Revival style which was inspired by the art of the
Arabic period of Spanish history although it is the youngest synagogue
Yosef all it is considered the most beautiful one due to spectacular
interior decorations the interior is inspired by Islamic architecture and
includes oriental Stockholm motifs gilded elements carved decorations on
doors and banisters and colored stained glass windows
the synagogue itself is two stories high it's groundplan square the main hall
with the dome is surrounded by a tree built in balconies in the eastern wall
is the several ornament of Majel david installed in 1882 1883 underneath it
there is a monumental ground ha kodesh the most impressive decorative element
is the gilded the multi-coloured parquet arabesque its designers Antonin bomb and
bed treats moons burger were inspired by Arabic architecture and art
the synagogue acquired its name after the community of Spanish Jews who
settled there after being expelled from the Iberian Peninsula by Queen Isabella
the first in the sixteenth century
1935 a functionalistic building designed by Corel Peconic was added to the
synagogue till the Second World War it served to the Jewish community as a
hospital since 1935 the appearance of the synagogue remained essentially
unchanged it was used for worship until 1941 the Nazis use it as a storage
facility for items that were confiscated from the Jews ten years after the war
the synagogue was handed over to the Jewish Museum and in 1958 259 it was
completely restored inside in the following year an exposition of
synagogue textiles were opened here in the 1970s the building was neglected and
after 1982 it remained closed the restoration started only after the
Velvet Revolution completely restored to its former beauty the synagogue was
reopened with the ceremony in 1998 so that's it for the history of the Spanish
synagogue I hope you learned something until next time don't forget with like
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