Nitra Synagogue
Baumhorn's Moorish-Byzantine synagogue of 1911, restored as Nitra's concert and exhibition hall.
Nitra's Neolog congregation commissioned a new synagogue in a narrow street below the castle hill, and building went on from 1908 until September 1911. The architect was Lipót Baumhorn of Budapest, the most prolific synagogue designer of the Habsburg lands, who worked here in a Moorish and Byzantine manner: horseshoe arches, banded brick and stone, a broad central dome and corner turrets. It is regarded as one of the finest surviving synagogue buildings in Slovakia.
The congregation was destroyed in the Holocaust and the building stood derelict for decades. A long restoration ended with its ceremonial reopening on 3 July 2003, since when the city has run it as a concert and exhibition hall. The main space seats around 250 and holds a grand piano; a side gallery carries a permanent display on the history and traditions of the Jews of Nitra, a Holocaust memorial exhibition and graphic work by the artist Shraga Weil.
Highlights
- Moorish-Byzantine design of 1908-1911 by Lipót Baumhorn
- Main hall seating about 250 for concerts
- Permanent Holocaust and Jewish history exhibition
- Graphics by the Nitra-born artist Shraga Weil
