Synagogues
Synagogues were a speciality of the office, perhaps because of Wolffenstein's Jewish background. The two architects are considered the most important representatives of the building of synagogues of the Gründerzeit. For their work in this field they found inspiration in Dresden's Semper Synagogue (destroyed in 1938 during the Kristallnacht pogrom), the only sacral building by Gottfried Semper, with its simple basic concept and cube formed arrangements. Of the eleven synagogues designed by Cremer & Wolffenstein, eight were built, among them the New Synagogue in Königsberg in Prussia. But all suffered the same fate as their model in Dresden and were destroyed during the Kristallnacht.
In 1996, the Lindenstraße Synagogue was the subject of a memorial designed by Zvi Hecker, Eyal Weizmann, and sculptor Micha Ullman. In the courtyard of the present office building, they designed an arrangement of concrete benches placed in the pattern of the seating in the original synagogue. The courtyard and memorial is accessed through a large ground floor opening, much like the central passageway that figured prominently in the Cremer & Wolffenstein synagogue.
Read more about this topic: Cremer & Wolffenstein
Famous quotes containing the word synagogues:
“Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.”
—Bible: New Testament Matthew 6:2-3.
The Sermon on the Mount.
“Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.”
—Bible: New Testament Jesus, in Matthew, 6:2-3.
From the Sermon on the Mount.