NEW SYNAGOGUE REGENSBURG!

Did you know that the Jewish community is the oldest in Bavaria? In German-speaking countries, only the communities in Cologne and Trier are older. What Regensburg has been missing for the last 80 years, however, is a synagogue. Now there is: the new synagogue in Regensburg was opened on February 27, 2019. This is no coincidental date, as 500 years earlier, in February 1519, the Regensburg council expelled its Jewish population from the city. The Jewish quarter, including the synagogue, was completely destroyed. After the expulsion, a pilgrimage church was quickly built on the site of the former Jewish quarter. Today, on the site of the synagogue destroyed in 1519, a ground relief made of white granite blocks recreates the layout of the old synagogue: at the beautiful Mizrach monument on Neupfarrplatz by Israeli artist Dani Karavan, people are now sitting and enjoying the sun, while children are playing between the suggested columns.

Neupfarrplatz Regensburg — Mizrach monument

In the 18th century, Jewish life finally returned to Regensburg. In 1912, a new, magnificent synagogue was built a few streets away at ‘Am Brixener Hof 2’ and only 26 years later was set on fire and completely destroyed during the Reichspogromnacht on November 9, 1938.

Jewish Community Regensburg — Regensburg synagogue
(1912-1938) designed by Joseph Koch and Franz Spiegel (Photo: Wikipedia Jüdische Gemeinde Regensburg 1912)

The community center was preserved and is still used today, with a flat prayer hall later serving as an interim solution for the Jewish community. However, a synagogue was simply missing, not least because the Jewish community has grown strongly again in the last 20 years – the number of members is currently almost 1,000. The architectural competition for a new community center with a synagogue was won in 2015 by Volker Staab from Berlin, who have built some unusual buildings in Germany in recent years. The foundation stone was laid in 2016. After just two and a half years of construction, a beautiful new “Jewish Community Center with Synagogue”, as the building complex is officially called, has now been created. A modern building that enriches the old town: with a bright clinker brick façade, the corner building on Brixener Hof rises up and at the same time blends smoothly into the cityscape. The glass and metal dome that crowns the new building is striking. The main entrance leads through a small inner courtyard, and to the side you can look into the glazed library.

New Synagogue Regensburg — Poem Rose Ausländer | Design by Tom Kristen

“Don’t forget friends, we are traveling together…”

A gold-colored ribbon of lettering floats above the courtyard in the open air. The artist Tom Kristen designed this wonderful work of art. On closer inspection, you can recognize a poem by the Jewish poet Rose Ausländer. Lines from her poem ‘Together’ have been immortalized in the artwork in her handwriting. After passing through the security gate, you can see from the foyer into the inner courtyard planted with a cherry tree, behind which lies the beautiful yellow old building of the community center. The building complex consists of a community hall for up to 200 visitors, a meeting room, which is used for celebrations, readings, concerts and lectures and can be opened up to the courtyard with large sliding panels in summer. Other rooms serve as meeting rooms, reading and study rooms for young people and students, playrooms for children, a classroom for Hebrew courses and Torah study as well as kitchens for the strictly kosher preparation of food.

The actual synagogue is located on the second floor and is a cube-shaped hall clad in light-colored wood and flooded with light. There are no shadows here, thanks to the narrow wooden slats and the metal mesh on the glazed dome. This allows light to enter the room from all directions. The ceiling consists of a wooden dome, which somehow reminds me of a starry sky with its lamps. The room has a great atmosphere, bright, pure, clear, with wonderful acoustics. It’s a shame that the congregation doesn’t have its own cantor; singing sounds wonderful in this room. At the front next to the bima, the place from which the Torah is read during the service, there is a large, modern menorah, or nine-branched Hanukkah candelabra, by Regensburg artist Oleg Kuzenko.

A special place!

Back outside, I take a few last photos of the new building. A man happens to be reading the memorial plaque on the outer wall, which tells the story of the Regensburg synagogue. The metal cladding of the dome reflects the sunlight. It looks beautiful.

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