Description of the attraction
The first Jews appeared in Basel in the 12th century. They built their temple on the Rindermarkt. Then in 1349 the Jews were accused of poisoning the wells. Then the locals did not begin to figure out who was right and who was wrong, and simply burned 1,300 Jews in the main square. The surviving Jews were expelled from the city. They returned at the end of the 16th century, when Basel became one of the main centers of Hebrew printing. In 1789, after the French Revolution, many Jews from Alsace moved to the city, where cases of pogroms of Jewish dwellings became more frequent.
The current Jewish community in Basel dates back to 1805. In those days, about 70 Jews lived here. Now it has about 1000 people and is considered the second largest in Switzerland. Today, along with the synagogue, which is also called the Big, Basel has various Jewish schools and the Karger Public Library, run and maintained by local Jews.
The Great Synagogue is the second Jewish temple to appear in Basel. It was built in 1868 by the architect Hermann Rudolf Gauss. The building is designed for 200 men and 200 women. The Women's Gallery is located in the western part of the synagogue. The building in the neo-Byzantine style is decorated with ornaments typical for Moorish buildings. The design of the dome, surrounded by a row of windows, also recalls the oriental style. A special place for reading the Torah is now located not in the center of the prayer hall, as is dictated by tradition, but at the end, in order to free up space for believers. The table where the Torah scrolls are placed for reading is decorated with elaborate carvings. The niche for storing the scrolls is usually closed with a heavy curtain, but sometimes it is opened, and then visitors to the Basel synagogue can admire 10 valuable scrolls, which are stored in special cases decorated with embroidery and metal decorative details.
