A new place of worship

Consecrated in 1861, Glockengasse synagogue was designed by the Cologne Cathedral architect Ernst Friedrich Zwirner and paid for by the banker Abraham von Oppenheim.

Zwirner’s design followed the Moorish style common in synagogues of the period. The building was generally acclaimed as one of the finest synagogues of the 19th century and an expression of newly developing Jewish self-awareness.

Zwirner’s synagogue was burnt down in the November Pogrom of 1938. As the fire service did not intervene, the building was entirely destroyed. A Catholic priest, Gustav Meinertz, rescued a Torah scroll from the flames; after restoration, the latter was formally returned to Cologne’s Jewish community in 2007.