St. Pölten Synagogue

The St. Pölten Synagogue was the primary synagogue of the St. Pölten Jewish community until the November pogroms of 1938.Theodor Schreier and Viktor Postelberg’s Art Nouveau synagogue, erected between 1912 and 1913, is located on the Dr. Karl Renner Promenade in St. Pölten and is currently the home of the Institute for Jewish History in Austria.

The octagonal main tract, which is closed by a massive dome and to which eastern and western side tracts are joined, is the synagogue’s dominating feature. The synagogue is attached to the former school building at Lederergasse 12.

The previous cult chamber is housed in the main wing.The facade is separated into three levels: the bottom floor, the upper floor, and the dome.There are three windows on each of the two stories on the street-side façade, which are built as low segmented arched windows on the ground floor with a jagged cordon cornice running over them.The windows on the top story, on the other hand, are tall, rectangular windows separated by pilaster strips.The original colored windows were removed in 1938, and the windows now have clear glass panes.A massive segmental gable with images of the Tables of the Law, surrounded by flowery tendrils, stands directly under the dome.

On the ground level, side entrances are located on the main wing’s short, lateral sloping walls, and huge, oval windows are integrated in the transition to the dome.