Old Main Synagogue

The Old Main Synagogue of Mainz stood here in the middle of the Jewish quarter.

When the Jews of Mainz were freed from the shackles of oppression in the nineteenth century, the Jewish community experienced an upswing. The previous building from the Baroque period had long since become too small for the Mainz congregation. The new building was to demonstrate the importance of the up-and-coming community.

The synagogue was designed by the architect Ignaz Opfermann. The first drafts show a building with exotic constructions. This Moorish style was unfamiliar, but it emphasized the origin of the Jews from the Orient and showed the independence of the Jewish religion in a Christian environment. By the time the synagogue was completed in 1853, the Jewish community had opted for a mixture of Moorish and European styles.

The synagogue had an organ, which was still something new for Jewish communities in the mid-nineteenth century. For the progressive members of the community, the organ stood for the opening up of the Jewish religion to the majority population and the new era. The traditionalists saw this as merely an adoption of Christian customs. They therefore rejected the organ. The Mainz congregation almost split over the organ dispute, but a compromise was reached. The community’s unity remained formally intact and the traditionalists built their own, orthodox synagogue.

The reform-oriented Jews celebrated their services in the main synagogue until 1912. At that point, this place of worship had also become too small and a new synagogue was built. The community built the new synagogue in what was, at the time, the modern part of the city, the Neustadt. The synagogue here was sold by the community and then used as a warehouse. The building was destroyed by bombs in 1942 and the ruins were demolished in the post-war period.

Just a few steps further on, on the left-hand side of the street, a plaque commemorates the second Jewish synagogue.