The building, which is thirty-four yards high to the keystone, is fifty-two yards long and thirty-three wide. Nowadays, though, it can be used to hold worshippers during major celebrations, this increasing the synagogue’s capacity. The upper gallery was designed purely for architectural effect. Inside, the large prayer hall and the five arches are flanked by two galleries. On it, the Hebrew inscription under the two Tablets of the Law reads: “My house shall be called the house of prayer for all peoples”. Outside, the main facade is forty-three yards high. The overall conception is a rather florid Romanesque, with Moorish echoes. The synagogue was built to plans by the head architect of the City of Paris, Adrolphe, who was himself a Jew. Bernard Bauer, a Hungarian of Jewish origin, Empress Eugénie opposed this idea: the Grande Synagogue de Paris must not open onto a main thoroughfare ! Grande Synagogue de la Victoire. However, on the advice of her confessor, Mgr. Consecrated on September 9 1974, it was, according to the original design, supposed to to have an entrance on rue Ollivier (today’s rue de Châteaudun). This is where the Jewish community’s official ceremonies are held. The synagogue on rue de la Victoire is the biggest in Paris. This was the founding work of political Zionism, which bore fruit some fifty years later in the proclamation of the State of Israel. Not far from here, in a room at Hôtel de Castille (37 rue Cambon), Theodor Herzl wrote The Jewish State. In addition to its architecture and activities, the Opéra de Paris (or Palais Garnier) is notable for its extraordinary ceiling painted by Marc Chagall in 1964. Opéra Garnier by Marc Chagall © David Stanley – Flickr
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