Why Jewish Synagogues Embrace Islamic Architecture?

By, Spahic Omer

It is an astonishing fact that many Jewish synagogues across Europe and America from the early 19^th century onwards were built in the intricate and visually striking Islamic Neo-Moorish (Neo-Andalusian) architectural style. 

According to the online magazine Mogulesque the practice signified the Jewish community’s embrace of Islamic architecture. This was prevalent not just in large cities like Berlin, New York, Prague and Vienna, but also in smaller ones like Sarajevo, Corsicana, Texas, Owensboro, Kentucky, and Quincy, Illinois.

The majority of elements from the vocabulary of Islamic architecture, particularly Neo-Moorish aesthetics, were adopted. What stands out are the horseshoe arches, muqarnas, arabesques, mihrab-like niches, ablaq techniques, merlon crenellations, minarets, iwans, pendentive domes, Nasrid column capitals, and sculpted plaster elements showcasing elaborate, lace-patterned artistry. The only component that is entirely missing is the Arabic-Islamic spiritual calligraphy, which, as one would expect, was replaced with religious Hebrew inscriptions and other purely Jewish symbols.

If the out-and-out Hebrew inscriptions and Jewish symbols are removed from any of such synagogues, nobody would be able to guess that it is a synagogue. Rather, a person would think that it is a segment of the vast and heterogeneous universe of the Islamic built environment. There are even claims suggesting that Berlin’s New Synagogue, which was constructed during the mid-19^th century and serves as the primary place of worship for the Jewish community residing in the city, was deliberately designed to evoke a striking resemblance to the magnificent Alhambra palace and fortress complex that is situated in the historic city of Granada, Spain.

Berlin’s New Synagogue

As reported by Carol Krinsky in his book “Synagogues of Europe: Architecture, History, Meaning” Islamic architectural features first appeared prominently in a synagogue in Germany in 1832. This was soon followed by many other synagogues. The interior of the Dresden synagogue featured thin piers and numerous decorative details inspired by illustrations of the Alhambra. This design became well known upon its publication in 1847, and its Moorish interior decoration was adopted in many other synagogues later, including Berlin’s New Synagogue.

To Carol Krinsky, Islamic architectural forms were used more frequently and abundantly in synagogue architecture than Byzantine designs. She mentioned, “Many synagogues had horseshoe arches that could be round or pointed, cusped or smooth. There were polychromed wall patterns taken from engravings of mosques or palaces. Inscriptions could be integrated with the ornament, which avoided all figural representation. Slender cast-iron piers imitated the delicate supports of the Alhambra and, being slender, they did not obstruct sight lines. A bulbous dome might rise over the ark, or over turrets that resembled minarets. If a crenellated horizontal cornice rose higher in the center than on the sides of a facade it evoked not only reconstructions of Solomon’s Temple, but also mosque or Islamic palace facades and the porch and wall composition in the Patio of the Lions at the Alhambra.” 

The same author went so far as to assert that certain synagogues were constructed in such a manner that they bore an astonishing resemblance to Islamic architecture, to the point where one could say that the only missing element was ‘the crescent at the summit.’ In other words, these synagogues, designed in the Islamic style, were nearly indistinguishable from Islamic structures, particularly mosques, showcasing a remarkable similarity in their design and aesthetic (Carol Krinsky, Synagogues of Europe: Architecture, History, Meaning). 

Moreover, the Spanish Synagogue in Prague, Czech Republic, completed in 1868, is on par with any Neo-Moorish masterpiece built not only by non-Muslims, but as well by Muslims themselves. This applies to both the building’s interior and exterior. Its successive, multi-leveled horseshoe arched windows remind one of the forest of horseshoe arches in the Great Mosque of Cordoba, some of which are two-tiered. The synagogue’s interior, especially the bimah – the raised platform at the front of the sanctuary – is so delicately executed and embellished that it calls to mind the architectural and artistic brilliance of the mihrab (praying niche) area of Cordoba’s Mosque, as well as the deepest recesses of the Alhambra.

The interior of the Spanish Synagogue in Prague, Czech Republic

Just two years before the Spanish Synagogue in Prague, in 1866, the Isaac M. Wise Temple was built as a historic Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the United States. Unlike most synagogues, this one features two minarets flanking the central and significantly elevated part of the front façade, just above the main portal, resembling an iwan and marking the beginning of the building’s central aisle. As such, the building’s front façade resembles the Amir Chakhmaq Mosque Complex in Yazd, Iran. As strange as it may seem, anyone seeing this synagogue for the first time is likely to mistake it for a mosque.

The Isaac M. Wise Temple was built as a historic Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the United States

When the Sarajevo Synagogue was built in 1902, it also followed the specifications of the Neo-Moorish architectural style. However, in line with the architectural preferences of the Austro-Hungarian regime and its “mission to civilize” Bosnia, the Neo-Moorish style was diversified and further enriched with elements of the Neo-Mamluk style. This reflected the Austro-Hungarian occupiers’ obsession with streamlining and controlling the diverse, multireligious Bosnian society, using architecture as a powerful tool. Consequently, the Sarajevo Synagogue, especially from the inside, appears to an observant eye as a finely built and lavishly veneered Muslim palace reminiscent of those in Istanbul, Cairo, or Spain (al-Andalus).***

(Dr. Spahic Omer is Associate Professor in the Department of History & Civilization, AHAS KIRKHS, IIUM.)