BRITAIN’S TOP TEN HISTORIC SYNAGOGUES RECEIVE EUROPEAN ACCOLADE
September 2011
One of the European 'Top Ten' British synagogues,
the Grade I Listed Princes Road Synagogue in Liverpool
welcomed
three tours of over 70 people each on national Heritage
Open Days on 11 September 2011
Ten of the finest
synagogues in Britain have been nominated for the
European Routes of Jewish Heritage, Jewish Heritage
UK has announced.
Included in the Council
of Europe’s programme ‘A Common Heritage’,
the Jewish ‘Routes’ have been awarded
the prestigious status of ‘Major Cultural
Route’, one of only seven such routes being
created across Europe.
Jewish Heritage’s Director Dr Sharman Kadish
said ‘The British synagogues chosen hold
their own against major Jewish landmarks in Europe,
amongst them Prague’s medieval Altneuschul,
Amsterdam’s Esnoga and the Ghetto
of Venice. Unlike them, our synagogues have remained
in use since they were built. They celebrate Jewish
continuity as well as our architectural heritage’.
The nominations coincide with this year’s
Heritage Open Days that concluded on Sunday 18
September. Since the launch of the European Jewish
Heritage Day (European Day of Jewish Culture and
Heritage) by B’nai B’rith in Britain,
back in 2000, historic synagogues all over the
country have thrown open their doors to the public
and attract an average of 10,000 visitors each
year. They participate not only in the Jewish event,
but also in national Heritage Open Days (sponsored
by English Heritage), Open House London and
Scottish Open Doors, on successive Sundays in September.
The Top Ten list (see below), drawn up
on the basis of age and architectural beauty, includes
Britain’s oldest synagogue, Bevis Marks in
the City of London and Scotland’s High Victorian
Garnethill Synagogue. If you missed the Open Days,
all of these buildings may be visited by appointment - details are in the
full colour leaflet
[PDF file (5.54MB)], published by Jewish Heritage UK to mark the nominations.
Individual guides to each building are in the pipeline,
as are plans to designate them with a special plaque.
LONDON Bevis Marks Synagogue
Britain’s oldest synagogue, opened 1701.
A hidden gem in the City of London. Designed by master builder Joseph Avis,
the style was influenced both by Wren City churches and the Portuguese
Great Synagogue of Amsterdam, the parent congregation of the English Sephardim.
Tel: 020 7626 1274
www.bevismarks.org.uk
LONDON The New West End Synagogue
London’s
most splendid synagogue interior. Opened in 1879,
and designed in High Victorian Oriental style
by Liverpool-based Scottish architect George
Audsley, for the social élite of Anglo-Jewry.
Has much in common, both inside and out, with
its ‘older sister’, Liverpool’s
Princes Road Synagogue (see below) – designed
by the same architect.
Tel: 020 7229 2631
www.newwestend.org.uk
LIVERPOOL Princes Road Synagogue
The most lavish High Victorian Oriental synagogue
in England, older sister of London’s New
West End and designed by the same architect,
George Audsley. Opened 1874 and Grade I Listed
despite losing its turrets in the 1960s. Gorgeous
mint green, stencilled and gilded décor
contrasting with the rich jewel colours of the
domed and turreted Ark.
Tel: 0151 709 3431
www.princesroad.org
BRIGHTON Middle Street Synagogue
Opulent jewel in the crown of the South Coast’s
most elegant Regency resort. Opened in
1875 to serve the spiritual needs of holiday-making
Goldsmids, Rothschilds and Sassoons. By
Thomas Lainson with a lavish interior to rival
the splendour of the Prince Regent’s Royal
Pavilion.
Tel: 01273 888 855 (West Hove Synagogue)
www.bhhc-shul.org/middlestreet
RAMSGATE The Montefiore
Synagogue and Mausoleum
Regency style
synagogue of 1833 designed by the first Anglo-Jewish
architect David Mocatta, and the curious last
resting place of Sir Moses and Lady Judith Montefiore,
built in 1862, modelled on Rachel’s Tomb
outside Bethlehem.
Tel: 020 7289 2573 (Spanish & Portuguese Jews’ Congregation)
www.montefioreendowment.org.uk/sirmoses/ramsgate
PLYMOUTH Synagogue
Oldest
Ashkenazi synagogue in Britain and oldest
in the English-speaking world. Built in 1762-3,
a year before EXETER Synagogue (1763-4) [Tel: 01392 251 529
www.exetersynagogue.org.uk], both now 250 years
old. Rare Georgian synagogues designed in low-key fashion like non-conformist chapels
in the era before Jewish emancipation in Britain (1858), with gilded Baroque Arks.
Tel: 01752 263 162
www.plymouthsynagogue.com
BIRMINGHAM Singers Hill Synagogue
The earliest functioning ‘cathedral
synagogue’ built in the era of Jewish emancipation
in Britain, now over 150 years old. Designed
in 1855-6 by leading civic architect Henry Yeoville
Thomason, who was responsible for Birmingham’s
Council House and Art Gallery, also in Italian
Renaissance style.
Tel: 0121 643 0884
www.singershill.com
BRADFORD Synagogue
Oriental gem of 1880-1, in the heart of Yorkshire,
built for the German Reform community of woollen
merchants, who pre-dated the Orthodox in the
city. By local church architects the Healey
Brothers, featuring such exotic touches as
striped brickwork, horseshoe arches and a decorative
cornice, inspired by a mixture of Mamluk Egypt,
Moorish Spain and Mogul India.
Tel: 01274 728 925
www.bradfordsynagogue.co.uk
MANCHESTER Jewish Museum
housed
in the former Spanish & Portuguese
Synagogue of 1874 in Cheetham, once
the hub of Manchester Jewish life. Built in Moorish
style, the architect was Edward Salomons who
was of German Ashkenazi background. Permanent
collection documents the history of Manchester
Jewry, while special exhibitions often focus
on the cultural diversity of present day Cheetham.
Tel: 0161 834 9879
www.mjm.org.uk
GLASGOW Garnethill Synagogue
The
A-Listed ‘cathedral synagogue’ of
Scotland, located in the heart of the city close
to Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s famous Glasgow
School of Art. By John McLeod, 1877-9, and now
home to the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre -
a must for family history buffs with roots north
of the border.
Tel: 0141 332 4151; 0141 332 4911 (Archives)
www.sjac.org.uk/archives/garnethill.html
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