Interior of the New (Neue) Synagogue, Berlin.

(GERMANY)

Early 20th-century

Detailed pen-and-ink illustration on card, signed bottom right: “B. Kretschmann.”

Inaugurated in the presence of Count Otto von Bismarck in 1866, the Neue Synagoge ("New Synagogue") was constructed to be the main house of worship of Berlin’s Jewish community, and remains today as an important architectural monument. Located on Oranienburgerstrasse, the building was designed by the prominent Berlin architect Eduard Knoblauch, following whose death in 1865, Friedrich August Stüler took responsibility for the majority of construction as well as the interior design. One of the few synagogues to survive Kristallnacht, the structure was badly damaged prior to and during World War II and subsequently much was demolished; the present synagogue building on the site is a partial reconstruction.