Synagogue

address: 9 Ivana Filipovića Street
Period: Modernism
Kind: Immovable material heritage
Century: 20
Year: 1930
Purpose: sacral

The synagogue in Rijeka was built in 1930. The authors of the project were V. Angayal and P. Fabbo. It does not have any decorations or symbols on the façade. The façade is asymmetrical, covered with stone and red brick. It was built as a single-nave longitudinal edifice with Modernistic spirit and elements of Mediterranean influence and associations to art déco such as windows with graded-pyramidal endings and relief motifs of David’s star above them. 

The interior of the shrine was divided into ritual area with the balcony, “esrat naschim”, intended for women. The interior is modestly decorated, with a cornice under the roof truss and stylized vegetative relief under the window level. 

The small synagogue in Rijeka is ranked along with the one in Dubrovnik and Split, the only one with preserved original function, representing the seat of the Rijeka Jewish District.

The interior of the shrine was restored in 2006, and in 2008, it was completely renewed according to the idea by the architect Vladi Bralić from Rijeka.

There was also an older synagogue in Rijeka built in 1903 according to the designs by the most famous Hungarian synagogue architect Lipót Baumhorn.

The synagogue was a square-layout tower with a cupola above the shrine and two smaller cupolas at the entrance façade. Red façade brick was used for decoration, while the façade was emphasized with white horizontal lines and small relief architectural decorations. Large openings of pointy arched three-light mullioned windows were prominent on the façade. The formal opening ceremony was organized on the holiday of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, 22 October 1903.

After German retreat from the area of Rijeka, the building was set on fire in 1944, and the price of its restoration was too high so the remains of the damaged synagogue were sold as construction material.

Today at the site of the grandiose synagogue there is an inscription describing the former building.

 

Valorization:

The synagogue is a protected cultural good and is entered in the Republic of Croatia Register of Cultural Goods on the List of Protected Cultural Goods. 

 

Tags: synagogue, artnouveau