Worms – Jerusalem on the Rhine

Due to the scholars active in the area in the Middle Ages, Worms develops an extraordinary spiritual importance, which, together with its nickname of “Jerusalem on the Rhine”, it has kept right up to the present day. The Synagogue Compound is situated in the centre of the city’s Jewish quarter. It is used continuously for 900 years, up to the Shoah. The compound is home to all the buildings that are important for practising the religion, all located in close proximity to each other. Services are held in the Synagogue and women’s shul, the mikveh is used for ritual cleansing, the synagogue courtyard is where the law is administered, and the yeshiva is a place of religious teaching. The “Holy Sands” cemetery contains 2,500 headstones dating back to the 11th to 20th centuries. Their epitaphs honour both men and women in equal measure and provide insights into the lives of the deceased.

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