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Origin and history

The Great Synagogue of Paris, known as the Synagogue of the Victoire, was built between 1867 and 1875 in the 9th arrondissement to respond to the growth of the Parisian Jewish community, which grew from 12,000 to 25,000 members under the Second Empire. Funded by private subscriptions (including Gustave de Rothschild's) and land offered by the city, it replaces a former building housing the American legation. The architect Alfred-Philibert Aldrophe, a specialist in Jewish religious buildings, designed a 36-metre-high neo-Byzantine building, inaugurated in 1874 and opened for worship in 1875.

The place became a symbol of Parisian Jewish life: Alfred Dreyfus married Lucie Hadamard in 1890, and Theodor Herzl, witness to the Dreyfus affair, found inspiration for his Zionist commitment. In 1896, the Tsar Nicholas II was honoured at an official ceremony. During the occupation, the synagogue was the victim of attacks (bombing in 1941 by the MSR) and desecrations (1942), before serving as a refuge during the raids. After the war, it was renovated until 1967 and listed as a historical monument in 1987.

Architecture incorporates Hebrew and French inscriptions, such as Isaiah's verse on the facade or ‘You will love your neighbor' inside. The twelve stained glass windows symbolize the tribes of Israel, and the holy ark bears the motto ‘The Lord is my banner'. With 1,800 seats, it still hosts major ceremonies, such as the annual tribute to the Martyrs of the Deportation, broadcast on France 2. As the seat of the great rabbi of Paris, it remains a central place of French Judaism.

The synagogue is now owned by the city of Paris. Its eclectic style, combining Byzantine references and Jewish symbols, makes it a unique testimony to the architectural and cultural integration of Jewish communities in France in the 19th century. Its history, marked by national events (Dreyfus case, Shoah), reflects the tensions and hopes of modern French society.

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