Address:
Sofia, Exarch Joseph
Str. 18
Museum Hours:
09:00-16:30
The Sofia Synagogue (Bulgarian: Софийска синагога, Sofiyska sinagoga) is the largest synagogue in Southeastern Europe, one of two functioning in Bulgaria (with the one in Plovdiv) and the third-largest in Europe.
Constructed for the needs of the Bulgarian capital Sofia's mainly Sephardic Jewish community after a project by the Austrian architect Friedrich Grünanger, it resembles the old Moorish Leopoldstädter Tempel in Vienna and was officially opened on 9 September 1909 in the presence of Tsar Ferdinand I of Bulgaria. The first preparations for the synagogue's construction date to 1903, while the construction itself had begun on 13 November 1905. The construction of a grand new synagogue was part of the reorganization efforts of the Bulgarian Jewish community under Lemberg-born Chief Rabbi Marcus Ehrenpreis and local leaders Ezra Tadjer and Avram Davidjon Levy.