Tallinn Synagogue, also known as Beit Bella Synagogue, is located in Estonia’s capital city

Capital City

Capital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....

. The privately funded synagogue in central Tallinn

Tallinn

Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...

 was inaugurated on May 16, 2007. The building is an ultramodern, airy structure, which can seat 180 people with additional seating for up to 230 people for concerts and other public events. It received global attention as it was the first synagogue to open in Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

 since World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

The original synagogue, built in 1883, was not rebuilt after being destroyed in March 1944 during a Soviet air bombing raid on Tallinn, which at the time was occupied by Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 - the city then became the only post-war Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an capital without a synagogue. Tartu

Tartu

Tartu is the second largest city of Estonia. In contrast to Estonia's political and financial capital Tallinn, Tartu is often considered the intellectual and cultural hub, especially since it is home to Estonia's oldest and most renowned university. Situated 186 km southeast of Tallinn, the...

, a university town in southeastern Estonia and the second largest city in Estonia, also had a synagogue which was destroyed during World War II.

External links

• The official Site of Tallinn Synagogue
• Estonia's first synagogue since World War II opens, European Jewish Press
• Synagogue set to open in Estonia for first time since Holocaust, Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS
• First Post-World War Two Synagogue Opened in Tallinn, Estonia, European Jewish Congress
  European Jewish Congress
  The European Jewish Congress, , was founded in 1986. It is based in Paris, with offices in Brussels, Strasbourg, Berlin and Budapest...
  
  
• Estonia's Jews set to inaugurate new Tallinn synagogue, International Herald Tribune
  International Herald Tribune
  The International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...
  
  
• Peres, Metzger Attend Opening of First Estonian Synagogue, Arutz 7
• Synagogue set to open in Estonia for first time since Holocaust, Haaretz
  Haaretz
  Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
  
  
• Estonia opens synagogue for first time since Nazi era, The Independent
  The Independent
  The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
  
  
• Estonia Jews to get first synagogue, Aljazeera.net