NEW SYNAGOGUE IN MAINZ

The New Synagogue in Mainz was consecrated on 3 September 2010, on the same spot where 98 years previously its predecessor had been erected, and 72 years after its violent destruction. The Synagogue Centre, designed by Manuel Herz, taps into over a millennium of history chronicling the doings of the Jewish community in Mainz, in Magenza. With Gerschom ben Jehuda – Meor Hagola, »Light of the Diaspora« – the Jewish tradition of teaching and learning, study of the Torah and the Talmud was reinvigorated. He laid the foundations for successive generations of learned rabbis in mediaeval Mainz: Raschi, Jehuda Hachassid, Maharam are names that still resonate in Jewish memories. The building’s silhouette is dominated by the five letters of the word »keduscha«, the Hebrew term for sanctification. The glazed ceramic façade indicates a different mode of writing, words inscribed by chiselling in stone. In his design for the roof, the architect Manuel Herz has opted for the oldest Jewish symbol of all, the shofar or ram’s horn, which stands for God’s alliance with humankind. It connotes Abraham’s sacrifice and the ram in the burning thorn-bush. The new Synagogue Centre is a building designed to awaken interest, curiosity, questions, disagreement or consensus, but above all hope. It aims to attract people, Jews and gentiles alike, enabling them to participate in the community’s religious and cultural activities.

Please allow sufficient time for getting there; the synagogue does not have a car park of its own. Your best option is to use one of the nearby multi-storey car parks (Bonifaziustürme, Bleiche, Schloss or Rheinufer). However, these are all approximately 10 minutes' walk away.

Mainz Synagogenplatz