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Origin and history

The Consistory Synagogue of Metz, located on Rabbi Elie Bloch Street, was inaugurated on August 30, 1850. It is part of a long Jewish tradition in Lorraine, marked by figures such as Rabbinou Guershom. A first synagogue was built on this site as early as 1609 (or 1619), followed by a second in 1716, housing a renowned Talmudic school run by illustrious rabbis, including Shaagas Aryeh.

The site welcomed royal visitors: Louis XIV in 1657, the first French ruler to enter a synagogue, then the Count of Provence (future Louis XVIII) in 1782, impressed by Rabbi Aryeh Leib Gunzberg. The community, choosing its rabbis in the Holy Empire or in Poland to guarantee their impartiality, saw the succession of scholars like Moses Cohen Narol or Gabriel Eskelis. In 1785 the Académie de Metz organized a competition on the integration of Jews in France, in which Abbé Gregory took part.

The construction of the present building began in 1839 to meet the needs of a community of 2,400 members in 1842. The neoclassical building is 40 metres long and 20 metres wide, with a nave, downsides, and galleries reserved for women. The holy arch, decorated with columns and sculptures, and an organ installed in 1897, bear witness to its fascist. The synagogue was preserved during the Annexion, despite degradation, and reopened in 1944 by the great Rabbi Nathan Netter.

Ranked a historic monument in 1984, it received a major restoration in 2021-2023, financed by the Fondation du Patrimoine and the Fondation Edmond J. Safra, for a cost of 2.3 million euros. The site remains an active place of worship and a Hebrew centre, perpetuating a centuries-old spiritual and cultural heritage.

The local archives retain valuable documents, such as the Memorbuch (memorial of the XVII-XVIIIth centuries), records related to the Great Sanhedrin of 1807, or traces of Raphaël Lévy's trial. The square in front of the synagogue honours the poet Gustave Kahn, a native of Metz, highlighting the link between Jewish heritage and local history.

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