Ludwig Förster was a German-born Austro-Hungarian architect known especially for the synagogues and churches he designed. From 1842 to 1845 he taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, while running his own architect studio. The Dohány Street Synagogue in Budapest, the Synagogue of Miskolc, and the Leopoldstädter Tempel in Vienna are considered his most important works. From 1861 to 1863 he served as a member of Vienna’s city council.
There is virtually no field of human culture between 1750 to 1880 in which Jews only participated enthusiastically; they often pioneered, introducing new techniques, innovative approaches, and fresh ways of looking at the world.
Synagogues built in Europe in the age of Emancipation had somewhat contradictory goals. On the one hand, they were to articulate a proud Jewishness, which by definition meant a distinctive style. On the other hand, they wanted to announce that they were deeply embedded in the European cityscape.
This is a modern artist’s illustration of a painting of a seated male in profile, perhaps an enthroned dignitary. The painting was made on a potsherd from Ramat Rahel. It measures around 5 × 3 inches…
The Old Synagogue (Alte-Schul, or Stara Bożnica) of Kraków is located in the Kazimierz district of the city. Because it was in a part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth vulnerable to attack by…