Spanish Synagogue, Prague

Of the synagogues in Prague's old Jewish Town, Josefov, the Spanish Synagogue is the youngest and by far the most ornate. It stands on the site of the Altschul, the "Old School", an older synagogue that it replaced. The new building, completed in 1868 to plans by Vojtěch Ignác Ullmann and Josef Niklas, takes its name not from Spanish Jews but from its style: a Moorish Revival that looked to the Islamic architecture of medieval Spain as a fitting dress for a Jewish temple.

From outside the building is a restrained square block with a dome. The surprise is inside, where between 1882 and 1893 Antonín Baum and Bedřich Münzberger covered every surface in stucco and paint. Stylised arabesques in gold, red, green and blue run over walls, galleries, doors and the ceiling, so dense that the whole room seems woven rather than built. A dome crowns the square hall, three sides of it wrapped in galleries, and a large stained-glass window with a Star of David sets the colours glowing when the sun is on it. The gilded, multi-coloured arabesque is the building's signature, and it makes the room feel like a single jewelled box.

The twentieth century was hard on the building. During the Second World War the occupiers used it as a store for property confiscated from Jewish families. After the war it was restored in 1958–1959, then fell into decay again through the 1970s and 1980s. A thorough restoration after 1989 returned the interior to its full brilliance, and the synagogue was opened to visitors again in 1998. It is now looked after by the Jewish Museum in Prague, which uses it for an exhibition on modern Czech Jewish history and culture.

Getting there

The Spanish Synagogue lies in Josefov, the historic Jewish quarter in the centre of Prague, a short walk from Old Town Square. Staroměstská station on metro line A is nearby. Václav Havel Airport Prague (PRG) is about 12 km away.