Die neue Synagoge in Essen

View From Beneath the Galleries Towards the Ark. Die neue Synagoge in Essen a. d. Ruhr. Erbaut von Professor Edmund Körner. Mit Text von Dr. Rich. Klapheck. Berlin: Ernst Wasmuth, 1914.

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While the exterior of the Old Synagogue in Essen is now one of the most frequently used visual symbols of Jewish life in Germany, few are aware of just how spectacular its intricately composed and carefully crafted interior design originally was. Designed by the local non-Jewish architect Edmund Körner, it was inaugurated on 25 September 1913 and described by many at the time as the most beautiful synagogue in Germany. Desecrated, vandalized and set alight during the November Pogrom of 1938, the building proved too sturdy for easy demolition and survived. It stood empty until 1959, when the municipality stripped out all remaining traces of its original purpose and refurbished the building as an industrial design museum. Since 1980, the Old Synagogue has served as a museum and memorial and, more recently, as a Jewish cultural centre.