Location Košice, Slovakia Ecclesiastical or organizational status Active Synagogue Opened 1927 Architect Ľudovít Oelschläger | Affiliation Orthodox Judaism Completed 1927 Capacity 800 | |
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Similar Evangelical Church of Košice, Palais Jakab, St Urban Tower, St Michael Chapel, St Elisabeth Cathedral | ||
The New Orthodox Synagogue, Košice (Slovak: Nová ortodoxná synagóga v Košiciach) was built in the years 1926–1927 at Puškinova Street near the historic centre of Košice, Slovakia. It superseded the older Orthodox Synagogue in Zvonárska Street, constructed in 1899 to the design of János Balogh.
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The building
The synagogue was designed by the Budapest-educated architect Ľudovít Oelschläger. The facade uses both neo-classical and local traditional motifs; and example of the latter is the attic storey which is in a style often found in renaissance buildings of Eastern Slovakia. The interior which is largely constructed in concrete is in the modernist with a domed central hall and a women's gallery with a metal mechitzah. The central bimah faces an ark made of red marble. A school was built adjoining the synagogue and a mikveh (ritual bath) was planned but not constructed.
Holocaust memorial plate
Transports of Jews from Kosice to Nazi camps were carried out during World War II. A bronze Holocaust memorial plate was installed on the front of the synagogue in 1992. It informs that more than 12,000 Jews of Košice were taken to concentration camps in 1944. It does not mention that more than 2,000 Jews from Košice's surroundings were concentrated here and then also sent to the concentration camps. Only 400 of all transported Jews survived.