Img. ID: 23235
Jewish Architecture  

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An octagonal wooden dome, typical of 18th-century wooden synagogue architecture, rises above the bimah in the center of the main prayer hall. The carved wooden octagonal bimah and the Torah ark were created in 1835 by the master craftsman Shraga Yitshak ben Moshe. These features represent the principal decorations of the main prayer hall. A single picture adorns the western stone wall of the hall. It depicts Jerusalem and the Temple Mount inside a painted frame made to appear as if "hung" from the wall. This picture was apparently created by Mendel Grünberg in the 1920s and then completely repainted at a later date. Note that the Old Wooden Synagogue in Piatra Neamț dates from 1766 and underwent restoration in 1826, 1854, 1870, 1928, and 2010.