Versailles Synagogue

The synagogue Versailles is located in the town of Versailles to the west of the French capital Paris.

Building

The synagogue was built in 1884-1886 is located at 10, rue Albert Joly. She is one of the oldest synagogues in the Ile- de -France and was built by architect Alfred -Philibert Aldrophe, who designed more synagogues. The inauguration took place on 22 September 1886. Was financed by the synagogue of Cecile Furtado -Heine (1821-1896), the wife of the banker Charles Heine, an uncle of the writer Heinrich Heine.

The synagogue is built in the typical synagogue architecture in Western Europe this time: a mixture of neo-Romanesque and neo-Byzantine style elements. Mullioned windows and buttresses are the external features. During this time, the previous modesty was the construction of synagogues abandoned, ie you could not see earlier synagogues from outside their function, and the will to build an imposing building here clearly recognizable.

Above the entrance are carved in Hebrew Bible verses.

While the synagogue was originally built for the Ashkenazi believers, it now serves the Sephardic rite, since most of the faithful come from Morocco. The grandfather of the famous anthropologist and ethnologist Claude Lévi -Strauss was a rabbi of the synagogue. To the left of the synagogue is the house of the rabbi with a small prayer room, whose glass window can be seen from the street.

Equipment

The synagogue houses an organ which was allegedly built by the organ builder Aristide Cavaillé -Coll. The instrument has 16 registers on three manuals and pedal. The play and Registertrakturen are mechanical.

• Couplers: II / I, III / I, III / I, I / P, II / P III / P