Great Synagogue of Brussels ·

Built in 1878, the Great Synagogue of Europe, formerly known as the Great Synagogue of Brussels, is the main synagogue in Brussels, was dedicated as a focal point for European Jews in 2008. The building was designed in 1875 in a Romanesque-Byzantine style by the architect Désiré De Keyser and constructed in 1878. the synagogue is Romanesque in style and the decorative elements are in the Byzantine style…The panels surrounding the great rose window above the main entrance bear the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. The central part of the edifice culminates in a gable and is crowned by the Tablets of the Law. This is the main synagogue in Brussels, Belgium, which was dedicated as a focal point for European Jews in 2008. An organized and officially recognized Jewish community existed in Brussels as of the early 19th century. Hartog Sommerhausen, a leading Dutch Jew and follower of the great German Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, moved to Brussels in 1817. As the “brains” of the Jewish community, he founded the Jewish Primary School, which the Dutch government honored with the title of “model school.” In the aftermath of Belgium’s independence (in 1830), the community’s headquarters were established in a rented house. In 1834 the Chief Rabbi Elie Carmoly inaugurated a synagogue in Rue de Bavière (today’s Rue de Dinant). The building became the Maison du Peuple (”House of the People”) in 1886. Some forty-four years later, in 1878, Chief Rabbi Aristide Elie Astruc consecrated the new Main Synagogue of Brussels, in Rue de Régence, just a couple of years after the Jewish Community of Brussels’s official recognition (Royal Decree of February 7, 1876). The Jewish Community of Brussels recently celebrated the 125th anniversary of the superb synagogue’s founding, on June 11, 2003, to be precise. The synagogue stands in the center of the capital’s royal district, between the city’s major central museums, the Royal Conservatory of Music, and courthouse.

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