Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: synagogue

This may be out of chronological order with the Hbf shot, as it doesn't really make sense where this is on my list. In any case, this is the tram stop for the largest Synagogue in Dresden, seen on the right. It's actually a very well-equipped Synagogue, with sports facilities and so on, as well as this dedicated tram stop. The building isn't what it seems the first few times you look at it, as it has many interesting features hiding in plain view. For example, one portion of it (not visible here) is "twisted," in a not-so-obvious way, and it renaissance-style brickwork that you see here looks different depending on how close you are or what angle you're looking at it from. Needless to say, it doesn't look so Renaissance from every angle, as this is a thoroughly modern building. I didn't take this photo for the Synagogue, though. I just saw a tram coming, and took a couple of shots of the tram.

This synagogue, constructed in 1888-1893, is one of the largest in the world, third largest according to the sources I could find. Designed by architect Emmanuel Klotz after an earlier architect named Fleichmann's design was declared too big by city interests (or possibly just bigots), its combination of architectural styles and its overall quality all contribute to making it one of the most desirable ones to visit, too. Those two towers are, incidentally, 65 meters high, and unlike on the cathedral the immense dimensions of this building are obvious. In addition to religious services (there were none from 1973-1998, but now it's supposedly open for religious purposes again), the synagogue also hosts concerts and exhibitions, and not always on religious subjects, either. It's actually quite a hard subject to photograph, as I've done it several times and getting the light right is quite challenging, as you can see that even here much of it is in shadow. I was only going to be in the city a few hours, so I couldn't wait for better light, unfortunately.

Built in 1270, the Staronova, or Old-New, Synagogue is considered by many people to be the oldest in Europe. It's called the Old-New because an even older synagogue, the Old-Old, predated it, although it was demolished in 1867 to make room for the Spanish Synagogue, which still survives. Behind the Old-New, you can see the Jewish Town Hall, as Josefov, the former Jewish ghetto where this picture was taken was governed seperately during its years as a ghetto.