A simple and modest oratory served for a long time as a place of worship for the Jews of Saverne in a house of the “Judenhof”, the courtyard of the Jews. In 1749, the Levi-Segal family donated a magnificent “Pahohet” (holy closet curtain) which was later displayed in the first synagogue.
This “Pahohet” is on display in the Museum of the Château des Rohan in Saverne as part of a permanent display case inaugurated in 2018. In 1779, thanks to two private donors, Salomon Lippmann and Simon Cerf, the first synagogue was built on “Rue des Juifs”. In 1835, a new synagogue was built to extend the old one, which was partially destroyed by fire in 1850.
It was not until 1900 that the present synagogue was built, far from the “Judenhof”, with its bulb marking the neo-Gothic orientalist style wanted at the time of its construction and preserved at the time of its reconstruction, as well as the building with oratory. Occupied and devastated by the Germans during the last war, it was restored and re-inaugurated in 1950.
Its size was reduced, the unused part being converted into an apartment.
The pulpit of the old synagogue, visible in the oratory adjacent to the current synagogue, as well as the altar of the same origin, used in the main place of worship, are registered in the inventory of Historic Monuments.
Image credit: Synagogue de Saverne © office de tourisme de Saverne et sa région
