Synagogue in Essen-Ruhr
The New Synagogue in Essen-Ruhr. Interior View. Architect: Edmund Körner. Die neue Synagoge in Essen a. d. Ruhr. Erbaut von Professor Edmund Körner. Mit Text von Dr. Rich. Klapheck. Berlin: Ernst Wasmuth, 1914.
While this is obviously a sketch from the planning phase and not a representation of the completed building, reports published at the time of the synagogue’s inauguration in 1913 suggest that it does convey a realistic sense of the prayer hall’s vibrant and yet solemn multi-coloured decorative scheme. As Otto Albert Schneider, the head of the features section, wrote in a preview in the Rheinisch-Westfälischer Anzeiger on 21 September 1913, Körner had designed every last detail himself in order to ensure “that even the most remote door handle bears a distinct personal imprint”. The synagogue’s cupola was a valuable addition to Essen’s cityscape, Schneider concluded, and one would henceforth no longer be able to conceive of the city’s silhouette without it. The synagogue was widely praised as a distinct and substantial contribution to forms of synagogue architecture seeking, on the eve of the First World War, decisively to transcend the well established neo-Moorish and neo-Romanesque patterns.
Ancient print from the book: Jews in Old Postcards and Prints Compact - 24 German Synagogues. Please support our work by buying our book.
