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Worms Synagogue
German: Worms Synagoge
Rear view of the Worms Synagogue, 2005
Religion
Affiliation	Judaism
Ecclesiastical or organisational status	Synagogue
Status	Active
Location
Location	Hintere Judengasse 6, Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate
Country	Germany
Location of the synagogue in Rhineland-Palatinate
Geographic coordinates	49°38′1″N 8°21′59″E / 49.63361°N 8.36639°E / 49.63361; 8.36639
Architecture
Type	Synagogue architecture
Style	Romanesque Gothic
Completed	1034 (original); 1175 (second); 1961 (third)
Materials	Stone; slate
Website
schumstaedte.de/en/shum/worms/
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii, iii, vi
Designated	2021
Part of	ShUM Sites of Speyer, Worms and Mainz
Reference no.	1636

The Worms Synagogue (German: Worms Synagoge), also known as Rashi Shul, is a Jewish congregation and synagogue located in the northern part of the city center of Worms, in the Rhineland-Palatinate region of Germany.

Founded in the 11th century, the synagogue is one of the oldest in Germany. The Worms Synagogue was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2021 (along with other medieval Jewish cultural sites in Speyer and Mainz), due to its historical importance and its testimony to the European Jewish cultural tradition through millennia.

History

The first synagogue at the site was built in 1034 and is therefore regarded as the oldest existing synagogue in Germany. The building was destroyed during the First Crusade in 1096 and subsequently rebuilt in 1175 in the Romanesque style. In 1186 a subterranean mikveh was constructed southwest of the synagogue.

During the pogroms of 1349 and 1615 the synagogue was badly damaged: in both pogroms the vaulted ceilings and the walls were heavily damaged. During reconstruction after 1355 Gothic forms for the window and the vault were chosen. Of comparable seriousness was the damage after the fire of 1689 during the Nine Years' War. When the building was restored in 1700, the interior was renovated in period style.

On Kristallnacht in 1938 the synagogue was once again attacked and reduced to rubble. It was painstakingly reconstructed in 1961, using as many of the original stones as could be salvaged. The synagogue, open as a museum, continues to be a functioning synagogue used by the Jewish community.

In May 2010, the synagogue was firebombed by arsonists, suspected to be anti-Zionists. The firebombs were thrown against eight corners of the stone building and against a window, but no one was injured and no serious damage to the building was reported.

Architecture

Built at the point when the late Romanesque style was fading and Gothic rising, the rectangular prayer hall features a pair of Romanesque columns supporting groin vaults. The windows in the thick stone walls are simple gothic arches. The windows in the adjoining study hall, the so-called Rashi Shul, have rounded Romanesque arches. The women’s section of the prayer hall has Romanesque windows on the eastern wall, and gothic windows on the western wall.

Gallery

• Pre-1938 interior of the Rashi Shul
• Interior
• Plan of the synagogue

See also

• History of the Jews in Germany
• List of synagogues in Germany (in German)
• Oldest synagogues in the World

References

1. ^ "ShUM Sites of Speyer, Worms and Mainz". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
2. "ShUM Sites of Speyer, Worms, and Mainz: Nomination Dossier". Ministry for Science, Further Education and Culture Rhineland-Palatinate. 2020. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
3. "Worms Synagogue". Sacred destinations.
4. "Anti-Zionists Firebomb Kristallnacht Synagogue, Demand PA Peace". Israel National News.
5. "Polizei findet mehrere Bekennerschreiben: Brandanschlag auf die Synagoge in Worms". RP-Online (in German).
6. Meek, H. A. (1995). The Synagogue. London: Phaidon. pp. 82–88.

External links

• Official website
• "Synagoge und Mikwe: UNESCO-Welterbestätten" [Worms tourism site on the synagogue] (in German). Stadt Worms. n.d.

v t e   World Heritage Sites in Germany
For official site names, see each article or the List of World Heritage Sites in Germany.
Northern	ADGB Trade Union School Berlin Modernism Housing Estates Bremen Town Hall and Roland on the Marketplace Fagus Factory in Alfeld Hedeby and the Danevirke Archaeological Border Complex St. Mary's Cathedral and St. Michael's Church at Hildesheim Museumsinsel (Museum Island), Berlin Hanseatic City of Lübeck Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin Mines of Rammelsberg, Historic Town of Goslar and Upper Harz Water Management System Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus District with Chilehaus in Hamburg Historic Centres of Stralsund and Wismar
Central	Bauhaus and its Sites in Weimar, Dessau and Bernau Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm Dresden Elbe Valley (delisted in 2009) Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region Luther Memorials in Eisleben and Wittenberg Muskauer Park / Park Mużakowski Naumburg Cathedral Collegiate Church, Castle, and Old Town of Quedlinburg Wartburg Castle Classical Weimar
Western	Aachen Cathedral Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust at Brühl Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe Cologne Cathedral Carolingian Westwork and Civitas Corvey Lower Germanic Limes Upper Middle Rhine Valley Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St. Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier Speyer Cathedral ShUM cities of Speyer, Worms and Mainz Great Spa Towns of Europe Völklingen Ironworks Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Essen
Southern	Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier Augsburg Water Management System Town of Bamberg Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt Frontiers of the Roman Empire in Bavaria Frontiers of the Roman Empire: Upper Germanic & Rhaetian Limes Maulbronn Monastery Complex Margravial Opera House Monastic Island of Reichenau Old Town of Regensburg with Stadtamhof Pilgrimage Church of Wies Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps Würzburg Residence with the Court Gardens and Residence Square
Natural	Messel Pit Fossil Site Ancient Beech Forests Wadden Sea
Shared with the Czech Republic Shared with Poland Shared with the United Kingdom Shared with Austria, France, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland Shared with Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Italy, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and Ukraine Shared with the Netherlands and Denmark Shared with Austria and Slovakia Shared with France, Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Italy, UK

v t e   Synagogues in Germany
By state / city
Current	Berlin Fraenkelufer House of One New Pestalozzistrasse Rykestrasse North Rhine-Westphalia Düsseldorf (New) Essen (Old) Selm-Bork Saxony Dresden (Neustadt) Dresden (New) Görlitz In other states Darmstadt (New) Mainz (New) Munich (Ohel Jakob) Regensburg Worms
Former	Destroyed during Kristallnacht Breslau (New) Bytom Cologne (Glockengasse) Cologne (Roonstrasse) Fasanenstrasse Gliwice (New) Kassel Kłodzko Königsberg Leipzig Nuremberg (Grand) Opole (New) Prudnik Regensburg Rothwell Semper Spandau Stolp Berlin (Old) Danzig (Great) Dortmund (Old) Erfurt (Old) Hamburg Temple Heilbronn (Old) Karlsruhe Rödingen (LVR-Cultural Centre Village) Roxheim du Quai Kléber (Strasbourg) Sulzbach Swabian Wittlich Wörlitz Zündorf
List of synagogues (in German)

• 1030s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire
• 11th-century synagogues
• 21st-century attacks on Jewish institutions
• Buildings and structures in Worms, Germany
• Gothic architecture in Germany
• Jews and Judaism in Worms, Germany
• Rebuilt synagogues
• Buildings and structures completed in 1034
• Religious buildings and structures completed in the 1030s
• Religious buildings and structures in Rhineland-Palatinate
• Romanesque and Gothic synagogues
• Romanesque architecture in Germany
• Synagogues in Germany
• World Heritage Sites in Germany