Project

Grand Choral Synagogue is a testament to the determination of the Jewish community of St. Petersburg, who faced many restrictions on land use in the city. The community secured permission for the building in 1869, but it was not completed and consecrated in 1893. The effort was presided over by Horace Evselevich Ginzburg, chairman of St. Petersburg’s Jewish community. (...)

Grand Choral Synagogue is a testament to the determination of the Jewish community of St. Petersburg, who faced many restrictions on land use in the city. The community secured permission for the building in 1869, but it was not completed and consecrated in 1893. The effort was presided over by Horace Evselevich Ginzburg, chairman of St. Petersburg’s Jewish community. Its construction occurred during a period of increased freedom for Russian Jews who, after a royal decree by Alexander II, were permitted, with significant restrictions, to live within the city of St. Petersburg. Later, German forces bombed the synagogue during the Siege of Leningrad, though the building remained in use as a hospital during the war. It continues to serve the city’s Jewish population today.