Great Choral Synagogue (Kyiv)

Great Choral Synagogue
Great Choral Synagogue
Ukrainian: елика хоральна синагога Києва
	Great Choral Synagogue, in 2008
Religion
Affiliation	Orthodox Judaism
Ecclesiastical or organisational status	Synagogue (1895–1920); Stables (1930s–1940s); Synagogue (since 1945);
Leadership	Rabbi Yaakov Bleich
Status	Active
Location
Location	Schekovytska 29, Podil, Kyiv
Country	Ukraine
	Location of the synagogue in Ukraine
Geographic coordinates	50°28′13″N 30°30′43″E / 50.47028°N 30.51194°E
Architecture
Architect(s)	Nikolay Gardenin (1895)[citation needed]; Valerian Rykov (1915);
Type	Synagogue architecture
Style	Moorish Revival
Funded by	Gabriel Yakob Rozenberg (1895); Vladimir Ginzburg (1915);
Completed	1895
Specifications
Dome(s)	One
Minaret(s)	Four

The Great Choral Synagogue of Kyiv (Ukrainian: елика хоральна синагога Києва), also known as the Podil Synagogue or the Rozenberg Synagogue, is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, located in the Podil, a historic neighborhood of Kyiv, Ukraine. Built in 1895, it is the oldest synagogue in Kyiv.

History[edit]

The Aesopian synagogue, built in 1895,^[2] was designed in the Moorish Revival style by Nikolay Gordenin. Gabriel Yakob Rozenberg, a merchant, financed the building.^[2] In 1915 the building was reconstructed by Valerian Rykov. The reconstruction was financed by Vladimir Ginzburg, a nephew of Rozenberg.

In 1929, the synagogue was closed. During the German occupation of Kyiv in World War II, the Nazis converted the building into a horse stable.^[3]

Since 1945, the building has again been used as a synagogue. In 1990, restoration works were launched at the initiative of the new Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine, Yaakov Dov Bleich. A yeshiva and schools for boys and girls were established in the same building. In 1992, the synagogue officially became the property of the Jewish community.^[4]

During Rosh Hashanah 2014, a firebomb was thrown at the synagogue, without causing any significant damage.^[5]