Choral Temple (Bucharest)

The Choral Temple is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 9-11 Sf. Vineri Street, in Bucharest, Romania. Designed in the Moorish [Revival architecture|Moorish Revival] style, the synagogue was completed in 1866.

History

Designed by Enderle and Freiwald and built between 1864 and 1866, it is a very close copy of Vienna's Leopoldstadt-Tempelgasse Great Synagogue, which had been built in 1855–1858. The synagogue was devastated by the far-right Legionaries in Legionnaires' [rebellion and Bucharest pogrom|January 1941], but was then restored after World War II, in 1945. The main hall was recently refurbished, and re-opened in 2015. The synagogue is still hosts daily religious services in the small hall, being one of the few active synagogues in the city and in Romania.