Tourist attraction, Conservative synagogue, Historical landmark, Synagogue
Stadttempel
Hidden behind ordinary house fronts in Vienna's old centre, the city's main synagogue has a theatre-like oval interior by Joseph Kornhäusel and was the only Viennese synagogue to survive Kristallnacht intact.
The story
Jewish worship has taken place on this site since 1811, first in the former Dempfingerhof. Because the 1782 Tolerance Patent required non-Catholic houses of worship to stay out of public view, the synagogue consecrated in 1826 was built into a larger block of buildings. Architect Joseph Kornhäusel, known for the Theater in der Josefstadt, gave it a gallery, lodges, floral gold decoration and a stage holding the bimah, all beneath a ceiling of stars. Austria's largest synagogue remains the centre of Jewish life in Vienna, with daily services, Shabbat sung by cantor and choir, weddings and Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. In the antechamber, black slate panels arranged like a book around a broken granite column carry the names of 62,400 Austrian Jews murdered in the Shoah. A restoration of nearly ten months marked its 200th anniversary in 2026.
Good to know
TAGGG AI- ✦Bring your passport and arrive a little early, as there are security checks before entry.
- ✦Tours run in English and German, covering the community's history up to and including the Shoah.