Project

Pfaffenhoffen Synagogue is visually and architecturally indistinguishable from its surrounding built environment, which is one of the reasons it is prized today. (...)

Pfaffenhoffen Synagogue is visually and architecturally indistinguishable from its surrounding built environment, which is one of the reasons it is prized today. The steep pitched tiled roof and simple interior is common to buildings in Alsace and a synagogue so seamlessly inserted into the townscape suggests a similar inclusion of its community in the life of the region at the time it was built in the late 18th century. Architect Gilbert Weil described this temple’s architecture as “community center type,” and it is a reflection of the Pfaffenhoffen’s Jewish community’s integration into village life. Contained within its unembellished plastered walls are a school, a small women’s gallery covered by latticework screens, a matzoh oven on the first floor, and the sanctuary space on the second floor. A torah ark carved with lions and straight-backed benches with scrollwork armrests remain in the synagogue.