page_title: History of the Jews in Cologne
section_title: The synagogue in Glockengasse
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Jews in Cologne / Modern times / Comeback / The synagogue in Glockengasse
caption_attribution_description: Köln, ehemaligen Synagoge Glockengasse
context_page_description: The history of the Jews in Cologne is conjectured to date back possibly as far as the late Roman Empire, and is officially documented from the period of the High Middle Ages. Over its history, the Jewish community of Cologne has suffered persecutions, many expulsions, massacres and destruction. The community numbered about 19,500 people before its dispersal, murders and destruction in the 1930s by the Nazis before and during World War II. The community has re-established itself and now numbers about 4,500 members. Because of its historical continuity, today's Jewish synagogue calls itself the "oldest Jewish congregation north of the Alps".
context_section_description: After the constant growth of the community the hall of prayer at Glockengasse was overloaded. A donation of the Cologne banker Abraham Oppenheim of around 600,000 thalers allowed the construction of a new synagogue. The project was won by Ernst Friedrich Zwirner, leading architect of the Cathedral of Cologne, who designed a building in Moorish style. The new synagoge was inaugurated after four years of construction in August 1861. The inner and outside design was to remind the bloom of Jewish culture during 11th-century Moorish Spain. The new synagogue had a façade of light sandstone with red horizontal stripes as well as oriental minaret and a cupola covered with copper plates. The ornaments in the inside were inspired by the Alhambra of Granada. The new synagogue, which was valued positively by Cologne people, had seats for 226 men and 140 women.
  While set on fire in November 1938, the rolls of the Torah of 1902 could be saved, thanks to the Cologne priest Gustav Meinertz. After the war they were placed in a glass cabinet in Roonstrasse Synagogue. After a restoration, carried out in Jerusalem in 2007, they are now used again in the liturgies in Roonstrasse Synagogue, rebuilt after the war.
caption: Glockengasse Synagogue in the 19th century
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