Lazar Brodsky Choral Synagogue

Born in Kiev to a family of German origin, Georgiy Schleifer moved in 1874 to St. Petersburg after graduating from gymnasium; in Petersburg, he studied at the city’s Institute of Civil Engineers. He returned in Kiev in 1882; in the same year he won a competition to construct the Kiev Stock Exchange building. Two years later, he was elected to the city council and appointed chief architect of the city. In 1897, Schleifer drew up plans for the Choral Synagogue in Kiev, which was completed the following year, and represents the only Jewish-related work of Schleifer in the city. The synagogue is built in the Romanesque revival style, with elements of Moorish revival. It is known as the Brodsky Choral Synagogue because it was built on the estate of the Jewish sugar magnate Lazar Brodsky after the tsarist authorities would not allow a synagogue to be built close to Jewish neighborhoods in the center of town. It is, therefore, an example of a so-called Aesopian synagogue—a synagogue in the Russian Empire built under false pretenses. In this case the plans submitted for approval disguised the purpose of the building; instead of the house of worship eventually built, permission was requested to erect a “mansion.”