# New synagogue in Munich



## LuckyLuke (Mar 29, 2005)

*New synagogue signals a Jewish rebirth in Munich*

MUNICH -- Jews were welcomed back into the heart of Munich yesterday with a procession of Torah scrolls and the dedication of a new downtown synagogue -- replacing one Adolf Hitler personally ordered destroyed as an "eyesore" in the center of his power base.

Jewish leaders said the ceremony -- on the 68th anniversary of Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass -- was a sign they were back to stay.

"Today we can show the entire world that Hitler did not succeed in annihilating us," said Charlotte Knobloch, Germany's top Jewish leader who was a young girl in Munich the night the Nazis attacked synagogues and Jewish businesses nationwide.

She fought back tears as Munich's mayor handed her the large, gleaming key to the stone-and-glass synagogue in the Jackobsplatz square, only blocks from where Joseph Goebbels ordered the destruction of Kristallnacht.

The synagogue, part of a complex that will house a Jewish community center, café, schools, and a museum to Jewish history, is a milestone for this burgeoning Jewish community of 9,200 members.

Not only does it give Munich's Jews a new synagogue, it returns them to the city's center for the first time since World War II. Until now, worshipers have crammed into a small temple in a far-flung neighborhood.

"This synagogue is not just a trial, it's a hope. It's a place of hope, that there will not be a repetition," said Rabbi Israel Singer, of the World Jewish Congress, one of 1,200 guests at the ceremony that followed the procession of silver-topped Torah scrolls through the city's winding cobblestone streets.

Built of travertine stone topped by a glass cube giving a view of the heavens, the synagogue cost about $72 million. Funding came from the city of Munich, the state of Bavaria, Munich's Jewish community, and private donations.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/eu...synagogue_signals_a_jewish_rebirth_in_munich/


----------



## MunichFRank (Aug 30, 2006)

@LuckyLuke: Thank you for your post. I´ve got some further photos of the other buildings build together with the synagogue:

You can see the new jewish museum on the left and on the right the structure of the stones of the synagogue:









Once again the museum on the right and the new jewish cultural centre on the right:


A different view of the cultural centre:









Even though i generally do not like such cubic buildings like the museum and cultural centre, most important for me is that the jewish community came back to the city centre again.


----------



## Davee (Oct 22, 2005)

Love it.


----------



## Clay_Rock (Jun 1, 2005)

Thank you for posting such an encouraging story!


----------



## Hebrewtext (Aug 18, 2004)

someone knows who design it ? who is the architect ?


----------



## MunichFRank (Aug 30, 2006)

hebrewtext said:


> someone knows who design it ? who is the architect ?


The synagogue was designed by the an architecture firm called "Wandel-Hoefer-Lorch" being based in a german town called Saarbrücken. They also designed Dresden’s New Synagogue in 2001, see 

http://www.forward.com/articles/munich-redux/

or the following link for pictures of Dresden´s Synagogue:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Synagogue,_Dresden?uselang=de


----------



## LuckyLuke (Mar 29, 2005)

I prefer the Synagogue in Dresden


----------



## goschio (Dec 2, 2002)

Dear god, thats an ugly synagogue. hno:


----------



## eusebius (Jan 5, 2004)

I like the building but the home for a religious gathering would look better with a less rigid design. The museum needs open space with trees. I hope the whole of the three buildings will become like a park.


----------



## Arpels (Aug 9, 2004)

yup a litle bit rigid to a Synagogue :sly:


----------



## shawarma (Nov 9, 2006)

I like the contrast between the stone-closed and the open sky.


----------



## eusebius (Jan 5, 2004)

shawarma said:


> I like the contrast between the stone-closed and the open sky.


Absolutely! This is excellent:










Though I'd sooner wish to see a play or see a concert there.

Other places of worship in München are very exquisite, baroque and predominantly of round shapes. This looks like a bunker, a box, but I'm probably mislead. I'm not religious. Somehow though this doesn't appear like a religious place to me.


----------



## Patrick (Sep 11, 2002)

this is ... strange :weird: 

nice view inside, but :bash: outside

EDIT: THe more I look at it, the more I begin to like it...


----------



## Majevčan (Jul 20, 2004)

The synagogue doesn't really fit in the surrounding, but the architecture itself is OK


----------



## Chalaco (Aug 29, 2004)

It's ok. The interior is pretty nice and the outside is confusing but unique, I guess. Is the rocky wall supposed to bear resemblance to that wall in Jerusalem?


----------



## Majevčan (Jul 20, 2004)

^^Yepp


----------



## ZZ-II (May 10, 2006)

Ugly, i hate that building!!! :down:


----------



## wiki (Mar 30, 2006)

cool design


----------

