Czernowitz Synagogue
Encyclopedia
Moorish Revival
Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of the Romanticist fascination with all things oriental...
synagogue built in 1873 in what is now Chernivtsi
Chernivtsi
Chernivtsi is the administrative center of Chernivtsi Oblast in southwestern Ukraine. The city is situated on the upper course of the River Prut, a tributary of the Danube, in the northern part of the historic region of Bukovina, which is currently divided between Romania and Ukraine...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. At the time it was built, the city was known as Czernowitz and was part of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
. The architect was Julian Zachariewicz (1873–78).
The synagogue was confiscated and closed by the Soviet government after it gained Northern Bukovina (of which Czernowitz is the largest city) from Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
in 1940. The building was burned by German and Romanian soldiers in 1941, after Nazi-allied Romania retook the city. In 1959, the outer walls were used to partially reconstruct the building for use as a movie theater called "Zhovten" ("October"), and the structure was renamed "Chernivtsi" in early 1990. The building lost its dome and retains very little of its former appearance.
Joseph Schmidt sang in the choir as a boy and served as cantor as an adult.