bg Targu Mures

Status Quo Ante Synagogue

- Strada Aurel Filimon 21 -
The construction of the building, which was built for religious purposes, started in 1899 and was completed in 1900. It was built according to the design of the Austrian architect as a house of prayer for the Jewish community in Marosvásárhely, nowadays Târgu Mureș. The presence of Jews in the city is recorded as far back as 1682 and in the next few decades that followed, the Jewish community in the city grew very quickly. By around 1785 or so, the Jewish community in the city had just one wooden synagogue to congregate in. The Jewish population played an important role in the development of the city, and they could be found among a wide range of professions, including editors, merchants, industrialists, bankers, doctors, and small-scale artisans.
An old postcard from 1901 that shows the building
The number of Jews increased and with it, the demand for a larger house of prayer, and this synagogue was inaugurated in 1900 by Chief Rabbi Joachim Wilhelm. During the , the Hungarian Horthy authorities concentrated the Jews in a ghetto formed at the Brick Factory. Between May 27 and June 8, 1944, under orders received from , thousands of Jews were deported from Târgu-Mureș and neighboring towns to concentration camp , and only a few of them escaped alive. After the war, the Jews who remained in Târgu Mureș began emigrating to Israel, and only a few hundred Jews stayed.
The building shown in an old postcard from 1910
The large octagonal central tower of the building, which was built in the style of Eclectic with Neo-Gothic and Neo-Moorish influences, features a rosette window on all rear sides of the tower. The tower is covered with a dome that contains a lantern tower, which just like the two smaller towers is covered with an onion dome that's crowned with a that features a Star of David. The two smaller towers, of which the arches are topped with a , are embellished with loads of and , of which the latter also is used underneath some parts of the roof . Above the cornice, which is also held up by pillars that are crowned with a Romanesque , you can see a part that contains several . Several other parts of the facade also include this, as well as several more rosette windows. Above the largest rosette window, you can read an that states in Hebrew "My house is a house of prayer, for all the people". The main entrance doors, which are flanked by very wide , are covered by a small .
The interior during a service