Semper Synagogue

The synagogue was destroyed in 1938 on Kristallnacht. Nazis burned down the synagogue on the night of 9 November 1938. A few days after the burning, the ruins were carried away "professionally" and the bill to cover these costs was handed to the Jewish congregation. A film made by the "Technischen Hilfswerk" documented the efficient removal of the building.{{cite book |author=Ellrich, Hartmut |title=Dresden 1933-1945 |chapter=Der historische Reiseführer |publisher=Links Verlag |year=2008 |isbn= |pages=4–7 |lang=de }} All that remained of the synagogue was the Semper-designed Star of David, which Alfred Neugebauer, a fireman, removed from the burning rooftop, hid and returned to the congregation in 1949.

Semper was the first architect to borrow the Moorish iconography for a synagogue. His countless imitators and followers include Semper's student Otto Simonson, who would construct the magnificent Moorish Revival Leipzig synagogue in 1855, and Adolf Wolff, who built the Great Synagogue of Łódź and synagogues in Nürnberg, Stuttgart, Helbronn and Ulm. Many other architects of the late 19th century followed the style of this synagogue.

While the exterior was Romanesque Revival, its interior featured the richly ornamented style that was to become the hallmark of Moorish Revival architecture. The elaborate Arabic-style interior had a two-tiered balcony supported by columns copied from the Alhambra. The arches and balcony fronts were richly worked with intricate polychrome foliate and lattice designs in the Moorish style.{{cite book |author=Meek, Harold Alan |title=The Synagogue |publisher=Phaidon |location=London |year=1995 |pages=188 |isbn= |postscript=includes photo of interior }} According to Harry Frances Mallgrave, most of the ornaments "were painted on the plaster surfaces in imitation of more costly materials."{{cite book |author= |title=Gottfried Semper: Architect of the nineteenth century |publisher=Hatty Frances Mallgrave |location=Yale |year=1996 |page=100 |isbn= }}

The interior design included furnishings - all designed by Semper, who considered each project as a Gesamtkunstwerk.{{cite book |author=von Orelli Messerli, Barbara |title=Gottfried Semper, die Entwürfe zur dekorativen Kunst |publisher=Petersberg |year=2010 |isbn= |page= |lang=de }} For the synagogue he created a Ner Tamid - silver lamp of eternal light, placed before the Torah scrolls,{{cite book |author= |title=Gottfried Semper ... Der Stil in den technischen u. tektonischen |publisher=Künsten |isbn= |page= |lang=de }} which caught Richard Wagner and his wife Cosima's fancy. They gave a great deal of effort to procure a copy of this lamp.{{cite book |author=Eisler, Colin |title=Wagner's Three Synagogues |publisher=Artibus et Historiae |year=2004 |volume=25 |number=50}}{{cite book |author=Pessen, Eytan |title=Zusammenhängende Reliquien, eine Geschichte über Richard Wagner und Gottfried Semper |pages=1–22 |publisher=Semperoper Dresden, Erchien in Wagnerjahr |year=2013 |edition=Spielzeit 2012-2013 & 2013-2014 |lang=de }}

The synagogue was situated along the old city ramparts, along the river, some five hundred meters from the new theatre (known as the Semperoper) that Gottfried Semper was constructing at the same time he built the synagogue. The building was purposely designed to be modest, as Chief Rabbi Dr Zacharias Frankel said at the opening ceremony: "we were not driven by the desire to brag with an opulent building; rather we wanted to find an appropriate place of worship, (...) where we show ourselves before God in devout communion."{{cite speech |author=Frankel, Zacharias |title=Speech by Dr. Frankel |publisher=Die Heiligung des Gotteshauses |location=Dresden |event=Königlichen Hofbuchdruckerei |year=1840|lang=de }}

The synagogue was a plain cube structure, built in a Romanesque style with a humble vestibule and twin towers that marked the entrance to the building.

StarOfDavidDresden.jpg|The Star of David finial from the Semper Synagogue, installed on the New Synagogue

Dresden, alte Synagoge innen - 1898 Version 1.jpg|Interior of the synagogue in 1898

Monument to the destruction on Kristallnacht of the Semper Synagogue, Dresden.jpg|Monument to the destruction of the synagogue on Kristallnacht

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• History of the Jews in Germany
• List of Jewish architects
• List of synagogues in Germany {{in lang|de}}

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{{Commons category|Alte Synagoge, Dresden}}

• {{cite web |url=http://www.cafe-schoschana.com/seite-eng-sempersyn.htm |title=The Semper Synagogue |format=Pictures |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708111218/http://www.cafe-schoschana.com/seite-eng-sempersyn.htm |archive-date=2011-07-08 |work=Cafe Schoschana |date= |access-date= }}
• {{cite news |author=Morrone, Fancis |url=https://www.nysun.com/arts/moorish-influence-at-home-in-the-city |title=Moorish Influence At Home in the City |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180525215905/https://www.nysun.com/arts/moorish-influence-at-home-in-the-city/ |archive-date=2018-05-25 |work=New York Sun |date=December 15, 2006 }}

{{Synagogues in Germany}}

Category:1938 disestablishments in Germany

Category:19th-century synagogues in Germany

Category:Buildings and structures in Dresden

Category:Moorish Revival architecture in Germany

Category:Moorish Revival synagogues

Category:Religion in Dresden

Category:Romanesque Revival architecture in Germany

Category:Romanesque Revival synagogues

Category:Synagogue buildings with domes

Category:Synagogues completed in 1840

Category:Synagogues destroyed during Kristallnacht (Germany)

Category:Synagogues in Saxony