New Synagogue Mainz 2

by Sarah Loft

Title

New Synagogue Mainz 2

Artist

Sarah Loft

Medium

Photograph - Photograph With Digital Enhancement And Added Texture

Description

Per Wikipedia: The new synagogue of Mainz was in use until 2010 as the community center at the location of the former main synagogue in the Hindenburgstraße of Mainz Neustadt. Due to controversial discussions regarding the street name, the location in the Hindenburgstraße was renamed as Synagogenplatz (Synagogue square).

Mainz, formerly Magenza, was an important Jewish center on the Rhine and has had impressive synagogues for many centuries. This tradition ended during the November pogrom of 1938. After the Second World War, the remains and intermediate premises of Mainz synagogues accommodated only a small group of returned community members. Before the fall of the Berlin wall, the community had a mere 140 citizens in total. In the 1990s, a large number of immigrants from Eastern Europe grew the community and new space was required. By December 2006, the community had grown to 1,050 community members.

In 1999, there was a competition to design a new synagogue building and a Jewish community center. The winner was architect Manuel Herz. The estimated cost was approximately eleven million Euros and the city of Mainz gave assurances to contribute three and a half million euros. The financing model outlined that the city, Rhineland-Palatinate, and the Federal Republic of Germany each contribute one-third of the construction costs. A building permit was issued during 2000. The demolition of the general customs office building (erected in 1955) at the site was not started until October 2008.

The prayer sanctuary of the new synagogue offers approximately 450 places which correspond to an increase of five times the previous prayer capacity. The draft [is reminiscent of] the deconstructivist architecture and symbolic organization of the Jewish Museum, Berlin.

The building reflects the Jewish-liturgical term Kedushah (Benediction saying for "sanctification" and "exaltation"). The Cologne architect, Manuel Herz, intended to symbolize this with five Hebrew letters. The letter forms were originally developed from picture symbols, from which the initial at the beginning of the respective symbol was associated later. Hebrew letters attain an object character, a quality of the representational one. That eastward (Jerusalem) directed horn-shaped roof of the assembly place represents thereby a shofar. Mythologically the shofar stands for communication with God. This form of the synagogue is to express the call of the community after YHWH, listening to the eternal and the receiving of the divine light and its wisdom. Traditionally the community was summoned together by blowing the shofar.

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November 7th, 2017

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