The history of the Großlangheim synagogue
1717
A house of prayer is built in Großlangheim
1809
A synagogue did not exist in Großlangheim at the beginning of the 19th century, as a rented prayer room is mentioned in 1809 in connection with the activities of a Jewish school teacher.
1817
A religious teacher, who also acted as prayer leader and shochet, was employed at times to take care of the religious duties of the community (cf. the teacher Abraham Seligmann already mentioned in the matriculation list in 1817).
1826
Around a decade and a half later, in 1826, the Jewish religious community took up the proposal made by the Kitzingen district court in 1809 and planned to build a synagogue. The plan to organize a Bavarian-wide collection in the Jewish communities for the project was supported by the district court. As justification, the authorities referred to the dilapidated condition of the "Jewish school" in Großlangheim and the lack of funds in the Jewish community required for a new building. In 1827, the Würzburg district government rejected the project, as there had not yet been a synagogue in Großlangheim and at least 50 families would have to live in the town for a synagogue to be built. At that time, however, there were only 66 Jewish people living in the town.
Seven years later, the attitude of the district government had changed. In December 1834, it submitted a building plan - which was not received - by the civil building inspector Johann Gottfried Gutensohn to the Ministry of the Interior, the revised version of which was approved by King Ludwig I at the beginning of April 1835. As in 1826, the Kitzingen district court supported the Jewish community's application, which was once again rejected by the district government, to hold a collection in Jewish communities throughout Bavaria for the construction of the new synagogue in Großlangheim. In the meantime, the Jewish community had grown to 76 people.
At the end of the 1830s (probably 1837), the Jewish community was actually able to realize the building project. The synagogue, which was built on a rectangular floor plan, was eleven meters long and nine meters wide and is still preserved today.
The façade is divided vertically by wide corner pilaster strips and horizontally by belt cornices, which divide the building into two zones of roughly equal height. While the lower zone has no windows, the upper wall zone has four arched windows on each long side. On the west and east sides, there are two closely spaced arched windows in the upper section.
The prayer room, whose westernmost axis was occupied by the women's gallery, originally reached up to the vaulted barrel ceiling, possibly painted with a blue starry sky, and was illuminated by the large arched windows.
Photographs allow an approximate reconstruction of the interior. The two tablets of the law towered above the flat triangular pediment of the Torah shrine, which was decorated with four fluted columns. The wall behind the shrine was decorated with framed architecture. At least four multi-flame chandeliers hung above the benches arranged in two blocks to the side of the central aisle. As in 1827 and 1835, the district government refused to approve a collection to help finance the new building even after the construction work had been completed.
1837
The synagogue and the adjacent Jewish school were built.
1938
During the November pogrom of 1938, the synagogue was desecrated and the inventory of rituals and valuable candlesticks destroyed. The Torah scrolls were rolled out on the streets and over the steps of the local teacher's apartment and then taken to the Kitzingen district office. The synagogue building itself was preserved.
1940
During the war, prisoners of war were housed in the synagogue and in the end it was used as a military hospital.
1952
The officially deconsecrated synagogue becomes a fire station.
2002
The fire station becomes a cultural center with cultural events. An extension was added to the original synagogue. This serves as the entrance area and the sanitary facilities are also in the extension.
The upper floor of the new extension serves as a rehearsal room and meeting place for the men's choral society and its affiliated choirs.
Several paintings in the anteroom are reminiscent of the former synagogue. A memorial plaque is attached to the outside wall.
