Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The great synagogue of Bordeaux succeeds a first building destroyed by a fire in 1873. Its construction, initiated in 1877 under the direction of architects Charles Burguet and Charles Durand, was completed in 1882. Funded by influential families such as the brothers Pereire, Rothschild and Iffla Osiris, it became one of the largest Jewish places of worship in Europe, mixing Gothic and Orientalist influences. Its architecture, marked by a metal structure signed Gustave Eiffel, makes it a unique monument.

The synagogue is the historical seat of the sefarad community of Bordeaux, whose origins date back to the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. After centuries of prosperity, the community was subjected to Nazi persecution during the Second World War: the synagogue, looted, served as a place of internment for 1,600 Jewish families before their deportation. In 1944, it temporarily housed resistance fighters, some of whom were executed.

Ranked a historic monument in 1998, the great synagogue remains today a pillar of Jewish cultural and religious life in Bordeaux. Its interior, organized according to a basilical plan with a central tebah and a heckal in overpassed arch, illustrates the richness of sefara traditions. The women's stands (mekhitsa) and the monumental candlestick (menorah) of 4.50 metres make it a sacred and symbolic building.

The building, located on Rue du Grand-Rabbin-Joseph-Cohen, near Rue Sainte-Catherine, retains an imposing facade flanked by two towers originally planned to be surmounted by bulbs, an abandoned project to avoid a Christian connotation. The vault in basket handle, concealing a metal frame, culminates at 16 meters, creating a majestic interior space.

The Bordeaux Jewish community, active since the Middle Ages, has given prominent figures in the fields of trade, arts and politics (Gradis family, Raba, Pereire). The synagogue, the key centre of this history, perpetuates a legacy that is both local and European, marked by resilience to persecution and bold architecture for its time.

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