The synagogue situated on via del Tempio in Rijeka's Old Town had already become too small for the growing Jewish community by 1890. Community members thus called for voluntary contributions to fund the commissioning of a new synagogue. However, it was only in 1901, when the City of Rijeka donated a portion of land on via del Pomerio not far from the old center that the building was begun on a larger synagogue. The authorization was issued on 8 October 1902 and the project was entrusted to the Budapest architect Leopold (Lipót) Baumhorn (1860-1932), famous for having planned more than twenty synagogues in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Baumhorn’s life and work are documented as part of a EU-founded research project entitled "Rediscover, expose and exploit the concealed Jewish heritage of the Danube Region".
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Postcard of the exterior of Rijeka's Great synagogue (Chiesa izraelitica), early 20th century
| The architect Leopold Baumhorn
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The construction was supervised by the Trieste engineer Carlo Alessandro Conighi (1853-1950) in an eclectic blend of styles. The exterior, characterized by red brick with details in white stone, featured neo-Moorish and neo-Byzantine elements; the neo-Moorish style was accentuated by the Saracen forms of the portal arches, windows and domes.
The building was designed as a rare domed type of synagogue with a central floor plan and Art Nouveau elements were used as decoration in the interior: the walls were covered richly in pink marble, another element reminiscent of the Moorish style. The valuable furnishings included a 1907 organ located in the gallery above the Torah ark, the work of the famous Hungarian organ workshop “Józef Angster”.
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Interior of Rijeka's Great synagogue, early 20th century
| Interior of Rijeka's Great synagogue, early 20th century
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