The Zagreb Synagogue, the main place of…
1867 CE
The Zagreb Synagogue, the main place of worship for the Jewish community of Zagreb, is constructed in 1867 in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia within the Austrian Empire.
Franjo Klein, a Vienna-born Zagreb architect, had been commissioned to build it.
Klein, a representative of romantic historicism, has modeled the building on the Viennese Leopoldstädter Tempel (1858), a Moorish Revival temple designed by Ludwig Förster that will become a prototype for synagogue design in Central Europe.
Zagreb Synagogue uses the already developed round arch style (Rundbogenstil), but does not adopt Förster's early oriental motifs.
The synagogue, located on modern-day Praška Street, is one of the city's most prominent public buildings, as well as one the most esteemed examples of synagogue architecture in the region.
It will remain the only purpose-built Jewish house of worship in the history of the city until its demolition by the fascist authorities in 1941 in the Axis-aligned Independent State of Croatia.