Jewish Bucharest: synagogues, theatre and memory

About Jewish Bucharest: synagogues, theatre and memory

By the ULTIMATE Bucharest Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Bucharest once had one of the largest Jewish communities in South-East Europe, centred on the Văcărești and Dudești districts near the Old Town. Its synagogues, museum and theatre tell a story of a rich culture and of great loss.

A large community

Jewish merchants, craftsmen and doctors played a large part in the life of 19th- and early 20th-century Bucharest, and the city had dozens of synagogues.

The Coral Temple

The Coral Temple, built in 1866–67 in a Moorish-revival style modelled on the Leopoldstadt Temple in Vienna, is the main synagogue of Bucharest today, with a richly decorated interior.

The Coral Temple was modelled on Vienna’s Leopoldstadt synagogue.

The Great Synagogue

The Great Synagogue, from the 1840s, houses a museum about the Holocaust. According to the international Wiesel Commission, between 280,000 and 380,000 Jews were killed in Romania and the territories under its control during the Second World War. After the war, most of the survivors emigrated, many to Israel.

Yiddish theatre

Professional Yiddish theatre was born in Romania: Avram Goldfaden founded the first company in Iași in 1876. The Jewish State Theatre in Bucharest continues the tradition today, with performances in Yiddish and Romanian.

Our advice: visit the Coral Temple and the Jewish History Museum, then the Great Synagogue; check opening times in advance, bring identification, and dress respectfully.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Jewish Bucharest: synagogues, theatre and memory before you go.