Obj. ID: 24157
Jewish Architecture Synagogue in Tver, Russia
The synagogue in Tver' was constructed in 1909-1912. The northern, street façade was designed in the Neo-Classical idiom, with four Doric pilasters and a gable in its center. The façade was crowned by a dome, which had no reflection in the interior. The sanctuary was situated in the ground floor with women’s galleries at the upper one. A Torah ark stood at the eastern wall and was surmounted by three narrow windows. According to the design, the interior layout followed the scheme of the choral synagogue, with the bimah combined with the ark.
The synagogue was closed by the Soviet authorities in the early 1930s and the building was turned into a branch of the Saving Bank, while the dome was removed and the interior reconstructed. During the two months of the Nazi occupation in November-December 1941, the building served as the headquarters of a German unit. After the liberation by the Red Army, the former synagogue was converted into a military hospital and after the end of the war – into an office of a pig production organization. In the 1970s, the building housed the office responsible for the building works in the area and in the 1980s - Institute Tvergeofizika. From 1992 it was used as a police station and in 2001 was returned to the revived Jewish community.
The synagogue was reopened in 2002 as the Ohel Rachel Synagogue and was renovated in 2003-2005. Now it contains now 4 levels. The lower level (cellar) serves as a youth club and museum; the second level (ground floor) houses the offices; the sanctuary is situated in the third level; and the attic serves for organizing events. A column and a pilaster are the only original details in the interior. The dome was restored according to the original design. While the original direction of prayer was towards the east, after the renovation the direction of prayer is towards the south, where Jerusalem is situated.
The revived Jewish community initially belonged to the non-Hasidic KEROOR umbrella organization, but in 2011 it joined the Chabad-dominated FEOR, retaining, however, the same rabbi and the prayer according nusah Ashkenaz.
sub-set tree:
Levin, Vladimir and Anna Berezin, Jewish Material Culture along the Volga
Preliminary. Expedition Report (The Center for Jewish Art, 2021), https://cja.huji.ac.il/home/pics/projects/CJA_Report_on_the_Volga_expedition_2021.pdf (accessed June 6, 2023)
Levin, Vladimir and Anna Berezin, “Jewish Prayer in the Heart of Russia: Synagogues along the Volga,” Ars Judaica 18 (2022): 111–44, https://doi.org/10.3828/arsjudaica.2022.18.6.
Beizer p. 35 with ill.
http://www.tverehudit.narod.ru/beit_kneset.html
https://feor.ru/administrative-units/tver/