Beth Israel Synagogue

When Brașov’s Jewish community split into two factions in 1877, each built their own synagogue: a theological divorce made manifest in brick and mortar. The Neologists hired Lipót Baumhorn, pre-war Europe’s most prolific synagogue architect, who designed nearly thirty temples across the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His 1901 Beth Israel blends Neo-Gothic arches with Moorish flourishes in Hungarian Secession style. The Iron Guard ransacked it in 1940, then it served as a gymnasium during World War II. After decades apart, the two communities reunited in 1949.

In a way that mirrors the perseverance of the Jewish people, this building, too, has survived disagreements, changes over time, and even gymnasium equipment.