7. Location of Luxembourg's Synagogue from 1823

7. Location of Luxembourg's Synagogue from 1823

In 1821, the Jewish community in Luxembourg City acquired a house in Rue du Séminaire, where they established a Synagogue. In 1823, the Synagogue was inaugurated and run by Pinhas Godchaux. It had a capacity of about 100 seats.

The Franco-Prussian War of 1870 led to a strong wave of Jewish immigration and the synagogue soon proved to be too small. The first steps towards building a new synagogue were taken as early as 1876, but it took until 1893 for the foundation stone of the new synagogue in Rue Notre-Dame to be laid. Luxembourg's synagogue from 1823 was in operation until 1894. All that remains of it is a painting by the artist and later Shoah victim Guido Oppenheim from the early 1890s, which depicts the interior of the synagogue. The building disappeared in the course of the expansion of the boarding school for girls "Sainte-Sophie". A memorial plaque in the immediate vicinity of the "Hôtel de Bourgogne" located in Rue de la Congrégation – formerly the seat of the Luxembourg Prime Minister –commemorates the synagogue and thus the revival of Jewish life in Luxembourg. The Kaddish Monument, erected a few steps away in 2018, commemorates the wiping out of Jewish life in Luxembourg by Nazi Germany.  

7. Location of Luxembourg's Synagogue from 1823 in pictures