Jerusalem Synagogue

The synagogue was built between 1905–1906 by a Viennese architect and an Imperial construction supervisor Wilhelm Stiassny, as a replacement for three Synagogues (the Zigeiner, the Velkodvorská, and the New) destroyed in the years 1898-1906 during the redevelopment. Although the association which took up the challenge of building the Synagogue was founded in 1896, it took ten years before the Synagogue was inaugurated on 16 September 1906. Initially it bore the name of the Jubilee Temple of Emperor Franz Joseph to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his reign, in 1898. After WWI, the present name, the Jerusalem Synagogue, based on the street name where it stands, slowly gained ground. The street name has nothing to do with the Synagogue, however: the street is named after the Church of Jerusalem former chapel of St Henry, nearby.

The Jerusalem Synagogue is distinctive in that it is one of only eight Synagogues built to W. Stiassny’s design, where services are still held. The only interlude was during the war years 1941–1945, when it acted as a repository of seized Jewish property.

Besides its religious role, the Synagogue is a cultural and exhibition venue. The concerts regularly held here let visitors listen to the uniquely preserved original organ by Emanuel Stephen Peter.

This exhibition presents a selection of 18 patchwork works inspired by synagogue windows. Each of them is an encounter between two worlds: precise architecture and soft matter, glass and textiles, memory and contemporary craftsmanship. Patchwork here is not just a technique – it is a way of composing a story from fragments, of connecting what has been divided and giving it a new rhythm. The authors of the exhibited works are women from a loose group of about thirty friends who share a joy in joint patchwork projects – and also a desire to help a good cause. For many years, they have been meeting during a summer week in Neveklov, where the idea of supporting the efforts of local enthusiasts to preserve Jewish monuments was born, which subsequently grew into the "Synagogue Windows" project. The fabric features motifs familiar from stained glass windows and facades: arches, stars, stripes, geometric shapes, and delicate ornamental patterns. Some works are faithful tributes to specific windows, while others capture their mood: color, pulse, flash. And because each artist sees things differently, the result is a collection of perspectives in which the individual elements complement each other.