Der Leopoldstädter Tempel

The Tempelgasse synagogue in Vienna, designed by Ludwig Förster and built between 1852 and 1858, marked a milestone in the annals of Jewish emancipation and architectural history. Located on a narrow alley in what was then the suburb of Leopoldstadt, it was planned to be the first monumental replica of King Solomon's Temple. Built in a Moorish-Oriental style and with an original projected capacity of 2,240 worshipers, making it Vienna's largest synagogue, the temple in Leopoldstadt was consecrated on June 15, 1858 in a festive ceremony during which a cornerstone brought from Jerusalem was laid. Yet the project stirred up a controversy: it deviated from traditional Orthodox Jewish practices by seeking to reflect the viewpoints of the evolving Reform Jewish communities of the time. The construction and utilization of this unusual structure thus became a long and intricate affair. In 1917, a major fire destroyed significant parts of the building, necessitating four years of restoration work, which ended in 1921. The Leopoldstädter Temple, where such famous scholars as Adolf Jellinek and Moritz Güdemann delivered their sermons, did not escape the Nazis' wrath and was destroyed during the 1938 night of pogroms, known as the "Kristallnacht". In his book, Dr. Hermann David Karplus describes the situation of the Jews in Vienna at the time, providing detailed data and insights into the history of the construction of the building, elaborating on the highly interesting ritual dispute and the dispute over the use of the organ, and offering biographical notes on the community's most notable public figures: rabbis and preachers, cantors, and other officials. He unearthed plans and documents from the archives of the Vienna Jewish Community in Jerusalem that were believed to have been lost. Numerous high-resolution scans of facsimiles, photos, and design plans are now available to researchers and other interested parties through the publisher's digital archive.