page_title: List of oldest synagogues
section_title: Europe
hierarchical_section_title: List of oldest synagogues / By country / Europe
caption_attribution_description: I took this photograph in August 2006. This is the Old New synagogue in Prague.
context_page_description: Synagogues may be considered "oldest" based on different criteria. Many very old synagogues have been discovered in archaeological digs. Some synagogues have been destroyed and rebuilt several times on the same site, so while the site or congregation may be ancient, the building may be modern. Still other very old synagogue buildings exist, but have been used for many centuries as churches, mosques, or for other purposes. Some very old synagogues have been in continuous use as synagogues for many centuries.
context_section_description: The oldest synagogue in Western Europe uncovered in an archaeological dig to date is the Ostia Synagogue in the ancient Roman port of Ostia, in Italy. The present building, of which partial walls and pillars set upright by archaeologists remain, dates from the 4th century. However, excavation revealed that it is on the site of an earlier synagogue dating from the middle of the 1st century CE, that is, from before the destruction of the Temple.
  The Ancient Synagogue of Barcelona, is a building from the 3rd or 4th century, when its function is unknown, and extended in the 13th, perhaps marking the start of its use as a synagogue. It has been described as the oldest synagogue in Europe. It was used as a synagogue until the massacre of the Jews in Barcelona in 1391, then used for other purposes until it was rediscovered and restored in the 1990s.
  The Köln Synagogue in Cologne, Germany has been excavated 2007/2012 and dates clearly pre Carolingian (bef. 780/90). There is at the moment some strong evidence that it dates back to the early 4th century when emperor Constantine in 321 issued a privilege for the Cologne Jews. This has been confirmed recently by the find of a rainwater mikveh of the 4th century inside the building complex.
  The Old Synagogue in Erfurt, Germany, which was partly built c.1100, is thought by some experts to be one of the oldest synagogue buildings still standing in Europe (most of it is 13th/14th century). It has been used as museum of Jewish history since 2009.
  Santa María la Blanca, built in Toledo, Spain in 1190, has long been regarded as the oldest synagogue building in Europe still standing. It was consecrated as a church upon the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in the 15th century, but no major renovations were done. While still a consecrated church, it is no longer used for worship and is open as a museum.
  The oldest active synagogue building in Europe is the Alteneu Shul (Old-New Synagogue) in Prague, Czech Republic, which dates from the 13th century (probably 1270). The Altneu Shul was the pulpit of the great Rabbi Yehuda Loew, (the Maharal), and his creation, the golem of Prague, is rumored to be hidden within the synagogue.
  The Plymouth Synagogue of 1762, in Plymouth, England, is the oldest synagogue built by Ashkenazi Jews in the English speaking world.
caption: Interior of the 13th-century Old New Synagogue of Prague. Built around 1270, it is the world's oldest active synagogue.
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