Spanish Synagogue, Prague

Here is the Spanish Synagogue, the newest synagogue in Josefov’s Jewish quarter. It opened in eighteen sixty-eight, replacing the Old School synagogue when that building no longer held the Reform community. Its Spanish name follows the Moorish-inspired design, shaped by Spain’s Arabic-era art.

Vojtěch Ignác Ullmann and Josef Niklas prepared the plans. Inside, a domed hall is edged by galleries on three sides; the eastern wall carries a circular stained-glass Star of David above the Torah ark. During the Second World War, confiscated ritual objects from Jewish communities across the Czech lands were stored here.

The Jewish Museum took responsibility in nineteen fifty-five, and, after extensive restoration, the synagogue reopened in nineteen ninety-eight with an exhibition on Jewish life in the Czech lands. A functionalist annex from nineteen thirty-five once served the community as a hospital.