New Synagogue in Mainz by Manuel Herz

photo: Iwan Baan

Two years after the laying of the foundation stone, a synagogue and community center designed by Manuel Herz was completed in Mainz at the beginning of September. The project, titled “Light of the Diaspora,” is a tribute to Rabbi Gershom ben Judah (960-1040), during whose tenure Mainz became a European center of Jewish scholarship. His wisdom was so great that he was nicknamed “Light of the Diaspora.” The new community center in Mainz seeks to build upon this history. The facility for 400 visitors of the Jewish community is located on the same plot of land of 2500 m², where an old synagogue stood from 1853 until the November pogrom in 1938. The city of Mainz and the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate contributed ten million euros to the construction of the new synagogue.
By bending the mass of the building and orienting it towards the east, a public space was created in front of the synagogue, where the main entrance is located, and a more enclosed inner courtyard, where children can play peacefully and the Jewish community can hold celebrations. The unusual silhouette of the building derives from the Hebrew word 'kadiša' (blessing, elevation). The synagogue itself is shaped like a 'shofar' (ram's horn), evoking Abraham’s sacrifice of a ram instead of his son Isaac, but also serving as a call and reminder to the community about significant holidays.
The glazed ceramic façade is intended to reference another layer of scripture and is formed similarly to the process of chiseling stone. The grooved pattern concentrically encircles the windows. This gives the façade a three-dimensional quality and, due to the perspective arrangement of the ceramic elements, creates a play of physicality and spatiality.
The grooving and shape of the building not coincidentally resemble the Jewish Museum in Berlin, as the Cologne architect Manuel Herz worked for two years in the studio of Daniel Libeskind.
The festive opening of the new synagogue is perceived in Mainz as an exceptional event that strengthens the local Jewish community, which numbered around three thousand members one hundred years ago, but by the end of World War II only sixty lived here. Currently, the Jewish community in Mainz has one thousand members who are once again kindling the 'Light of the Diaspora'.

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