Great Synagogue of Europe
Architect Désiré De Keyser chose Romanesque-Byzantine deliberately — he didn't want it mistaken for a church. The building opened in 1878 and outlasted a Holocaust that killed 25,000 Belgian Jews.
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The main synagogue of Belgium and since 2008 the designated focal point for European Jews, it holds that weight inside a single room of fine craft: Bruges-made stained glass, Brussels-cast bronze chandeliers, and bespoke cabinetwork housing the Tablets of the Law.
What to look for
- Stained glass windows by Henri Dobbelaere of Bruges
- Bronze chandeliers cast by the Compagnie des Bronzes de Bruxelles
- The Romanesque-Byzantine facade — the architect's deliberate choice to avoid any resemblance to a church
Tram 92 or 93 to Petit Sablon/Kleine Zavel; the entrance is at 32 rue de la Régence in the Sablon district. Check ahead for visiting hours — the source does not state them.
Great Synagogue of Europe is one of 33 sights worth the detour in Brussels, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Brussels pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Brussels
- Manneken PisA 55.5 cm bronze boy that somehow became the face of an entire country — the joke is entirely intentional.
- Grand-PlaceEvery guildhall surrounding you was rebuilt from rubble — French artillery levelled the square in 1695, and the Town Hall tower survived only because it was the gunners' aiming point.
- AtomiumNine stainless-steel spheres arranged as an iron crystal blown up 165 billion times — built to headline a World's Fair and never taken down.
- Stoclet PalaceA UNESCO World Heritage house you can only see from the pavement — by design, and by the owner's choice.
- King Baudouin StadiumInaugurated for Belgium's 100th birthday in 1930, this 70,000-seat bowl on the Heysel Plateau hosted six European finals — and the night football changed forever.
- Cathedral of St. Michael and St. GudulaBelgium's national church began as a chapel on a trade-route crossroads in the 9th century — eleven centuries of building decisions are now stacked on a hill called "Mount of Sorrow."