Description
The Tempio Maggiore Israelitico (Great Synagogue) is Florence's main synagogue, on Via Farini, in a garden a few steps from Piazza d'Azeglio. Inaugurated in 1882, it also houses the Jewish museum, and its green copper dome has become a recognizable point on the city's skyline.
From outside it is recognized by its Moorish style: a cladding of white travertine and pink stone, a central plan, two side towers with small domes on the façade. The green copper dome rests on a tall drum and is formed by two shells: the outer one is 47 meters high.
Inside, a golden light slides over walls covered with red and blue arabesques, once highlighted with gold, designed by Giovanni Panti. The stained-glass windows are polychrome, and the women's galleries, closed off by wrought-iron grilles, run around the hall.
At the far end is the Aron haQodesh, covered in mosaics and topped by the Tablets of the Law. On its doors the marks of Nazi bayonets remain, from their attempt to break them down. During the occupation the temple was used as a garage, and the fleeing Germans mined it. It was damaged, not destroyed: why, has never been made clear.
On the first floor the Jewish Museum, founded in 1981 and expanded in 2007, tells the story of the Florentine community, the Torah and its ornaments, the objects of the festivals and Jewish life. The last room, the Hall of Memory, is dedicated to the Shoah.
The temple was born from a dream of freedom. In 1868 David Levi, president of the community, left his estate for a synagogue “worthy of the city”. Until twenty years earlier, Florence's Jews had prayed in the hidden synagogues of the ghetto.
The first stone, sent from Jerusalem, was laid on June 30, 1874. The project, by Marco Treves with other architects, cost a million lire of the time. It is one of the synagogues “of emancipation”, built as free-standing buildings and no longer hidden among the houses.
In the garden, a large plaque remembers the 248 Jews of Florence killed by the Nazis, among them the chief rabbi Nathan Cassuto.
From outside it is recognized by its Moorish style: a cladding of white travertine and pink stone, a central plan, two side towers with small domes on the façade. The green copper dome rests on a tall drum and is formed by two shells: the outer one is 47 meters high.
Inside, a golden light slides over walls covered with red and blue arabesques, once highlighted with gold, designed by Giovanni Panti. The stained-glass windows are polychrome, and the women's galleries, closed off by wrought-iron grilles, run around the hall.
At the far end is the Aron haQodesh, covered in mosaics and topped by the Tablets of the Law. On its doors the marks of Nazi bayonets remain, from their attempt to break them down. During the occupation the temple was used as a garage, and the fleeing Germans mined it. It was damaged, not destroyed: why, has never been made clear.
On the first floor the Jewish Museum, founded in 1981 and expanded in 2007, tells the story of the Florentine community, the Torah and its ornaments, the objects of the festivals and Jewish life. The last room, the Hall of Memory, is dedicated to the Shoah.
The temple was born from a dream of freedom. In 1868 David Levi, president of the community, left his estate for a synagogue “worthy of the city”. Until twenty years earlier, Florence's Jews had prayed in the hidden synagogues of the ghetto.
The first stone, sent from Jerusalem, was laid on June 30, 1874. The project, by Marco Treves with other architects, cost a million lire of the time. It is one of the synagogues “of emancipation”, built as free-standing buildings and no longer hidden among the houses.
In the garden, a large plaque remembers the 248 Jews of Florence killed by the Nazis, among them the chief rabbi Nathan Cassuto.