Great Synagogue of Iași

The Great Synagogue stands at 1 Strada Sinagogilor in central Iași, in the old Jewish quarter of Târgu Cucului. It is a stone and brick building with walls one metre thick, raised on land belonging to Aron Vodă Monastery. The ground floor of the building is partly sunk into the ground. Built between 1657 and 1671, the synagogue is considered the oldest surviving Jewish house of worship in Romania; Chief Rabbi Rafael Shaffer dates it to around 1670. An inscription on the south wall records a renovation in 1761. A fire in 1822 destroyed the woodwork and painting, which were later restored, and further works followed in 1914. In 1939 it was one of 112 Jewish prayer houses in Iași; under communism most of the city's synagogues were demolished. Damaged by the earthquake of 4 March 1977, it was repaired on the initiative of Chief Rabbi Moses Rosen. The Baroque main hall consists of two vaulted naves separated by a central arch, under which stands the bimah, while on the east side a hemispherical dome is topped by a Star of David. The Torah ark (misrah) is of carved and gilded wood, separated from the hall by an iron grille, and the women's gallery lies above the vestibule. The decoration combines Sephardi and Ashkenazi elements. In front of the synagogue stands an obelisk raised in 1976 in memory of the victims of the Iași Pogrom of 28-29 June 1941. Restoration work begun in 2008 ended with the rededication on 3 December 2018. Used by the Jewish Community of Iași, the synagogue is the only Jewish place of worship in the city where services are still held. The building is a historic monument, LMI code IS-II-m-B-04057, and the memorial obelisk has the code IS-III-m-B-04301.