Portuguese Synagogue
Mr. L.E. Visserplein 3
On one side of Jonas Daniel Meyer Square stands the world-famous Portuguese Synagogue. This building was constructed in the years 1671 to 1675, about 75 years after the first Sephardi Jews arrived in the Netherlands, refugees from the persecutions of the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal.
City architect Elias Bouman directed the building of what was then the largest synagogue in the world. The classical form is similar to that of Protestant churches of the day. The building itself, with its enclosed square at the front entrance, is an echo of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. In 1641 the Amsterdam rabbi Jacob Juda Leon had constructed a much-admired wooden model of the Temple.
In 1934 the Czech journalist Egon Erwin Kisch recorded in his book Emigrants: place of residence - Amsterdam:
The Portuguese Synagogue is not, for instance, like the Altneu Shul in Prague. In no way could it be described as a shabby, shivering, timorous meeting place for illegal immigrants - no, it is a splendid construction, a Jewish cathedral… The nave, supported by pillars of hewn granite, reaches to the heavens and resembles those churches in Iberia where Jews of yore were dragged in to hear sermons of conversion to Christianity, or to be forcibly baptized.
The Portuguese Synagogue is the home of the 'Ets Haim' (meaning Tree of Life) Library,
which contains one of the world's major collections of Sephardi
writings, of inestimable value to scholars of Judaism. The
Portuguese Synagogue building became the model for other Sephardi
synagogues, such as ones in London, Willemstad (Curaçao),
Paramaribo (Surinam) and New York. This synagogue and the Gerard
Dou Synagogue were the only two such buildings in Amsterdam to
emerge unscathed from World War II. After the war the remnant of
Sephardi Jews started to use the building once again and in the
1950s and 1990s it underwent complete renovation
Collectie en mediatheek
De plegtige inkomst van zijn Majesteit Lodewijk Napoleon Koning van Holland
1808
Twee koetsen, elk getrokken door zes paarden, en daarachter nog twee koetsen zichtbaar,
gaan van l. naar r. de Amstelstraat in. Een vijfde koets draait net om de ...
Collectie > Museumstukken > 05418
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Plechtigheid geviert in de synagoge der Portugeesche Jooden, in 's Haage, op Woensdag...
1793
Orde van dienst van een plechtigheid in de Portugese Synagoge in Den Haag ter
gelegenheid van de verdrijving van de vijand uit de Republiek, 1793.
Collectie > Documenten > 00009796
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Overzichtsfoto
1960 (ca.)
Foto's (3) van de ingang van de Portugese Synagoge in Amsterdam, circa 1960.
Collectie > Fotos > 40000986
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Verslag van het verhandelde in de vergadering van den Kerkeraad der Port. Israel....
Verslag van een kerkenraadsvergadering van de Port. Isr. Gemeente.
Collectie > Joodse pers > 20062338
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A valance from the Portuguese Synagogue in the Joods Historisch Museum
1981
A valance from the Portuguese Synagogue in the Joods Historisch Museum.
Collectie > Literatuur > 11000368
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Joodse Wandelingen deel 3 en 4. Wandeling door voormalige jodenbuurt
titel, Joodse Wandelingen deel 3 en 4. Wandeling door voormalige jodenbuurt. maker,
Klaassen, Gerard. gegevens, geluidscassette, 2 x 30 min. - KRO: 1984-. ...
Collectie > Audiovisueel > 10000017
