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The Leopoldstadt Temple: A Memorial to Reconciliation

The Leopoldstadt Temple was the largest Jewish house of worship in Vienna. After four years of construction, it was opened on 15 June 1858 as the first freestanding synagogue in the city.

Druckgrafik
Commemorative illustration marking the festive opening of the synagogue in Leopoldstadt

“Nobilities of all classes and denominations attended the sublime celebration,” reported the “Wiener Zeitung” at the synagogue’s inauguration. Rabbi Dr. Adolph Jellinek delivered the dedicatory sermon, and the famous Viennese cantor Salomon Sulzer provided the musical accompaniment.
Gedenkblatt zur feierlichen Eröffnung der Synagoge in der Leopoldstadt
Commemorative illustration marking the festive opening of the synagogue in Leopoldstadt

Druckgrafik
View of the synagogue on Tempelgasse in Vienna's 2nd district (Leopoldstadt)

With this building, architect Ludwig von Förster sought to evoke the Solomonic Temple, equipping it with numerous Orientalist stylistic elements.
Ansicht der Synagoge in der Tempelgasse in Wien II. (Leopoldstadt)
View of the synagogue on Tempelgasse in Vienna’s 2nd district (Leopoldstadt)

Grafik
View of the temple under construction in Vienna's Leopoldstadt

The columns at the corners of the front façade referenced Jachin and Boaz, the pillars at the entrance of the Temple in Jerusalem.
Ansicht des im Bau begriffenen Tempels in der Wiener Leopoldstadt
View of the temple under construction in Vienna’s Leopoldstadt

Medaille/Münze
Commemorative medal marking Emperor Franz Joseph I’s granting of property rights to Jews

For the Jewish community of Vienna, the newly constructed synagogue was also a symbol of embarking on a new era—one without discriminatory restrictions and as full, equal citizens of Vienna. Two years after the temple’s inauguration, Emperor Franz Joseph I granted Vienna’s Jews the right to own property, enabling them for the first time to privately acquire land.
Gedenkmedaille anlässlich der Verleihung der Realbesitzfähigkeit für Juden von Kaiser Franz Joseph I.
Commemorative medal marking Emperor Franz Joseph I’s granting of property rights to Jews

Postkarte
Postcard addressed to Elisabeth de Waal featuring a view of the Votivkirche

Little known is the story connecting the Leopoldstadt Temple with the Votive Church, which was also built at the beginning of the so‑called Ringstrasse era. Both the foundation stone of the Votive Church and the capstone of the Leopoldstadt Temple were carved from the rock of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem by the Jerusalem-based artist Mosche Mordechai Schnitzer.
An Elisabeth de Waal adressierte Postkarte mit Ansicht der Votivkirche
Postcard addressed to Elisabeth de Waal featuring a view of the Votivkirche

Malerei
Portrait of Ludwig August Frankl

The capstone for the Leopoldstadt Temple was delivered to Vienna by writer and journalist Ludwig August Frankl, who had undertaken a months-long journey to the Holy Land on behalf of Elise Herz to establish a Jewish school in Jerusalem.
Porträt von Ludwig August Frankl
Portrait of Ludwig August Frankl

Tora-Aufsatz
Rimmonim from the Leopoldstadt Temple

Frankl also carried a personal gift for the new house of worship in his luggage: a pair of ruby-studded Rimmonim, inscribed in Hebrew and German: “Sandalwood from Eretz Israel, brought by Doctor Abraham Elazar Frankl in the year 1856.”
Rimmonim aus dem Leopoldstädter Tempel
Rimmonim from the Leopoldstadt Temple

Tora-Schild
Tas from the Leopoldstadt Temple

“The majority of the sacred objects needed for the temple were donated in kind,” reported the contemporary press. Some of these are preserved today in the collections of the Jewish Museum. Cäcilie von Königswarter dedicated to the synagogue a Torah shield crafted by Viennese silversmith Franz Zeidler, in memory of her deceased husband Moritz Königswarter and her parents Feivelmann and Ella Wertheimer.
Tas aus dem Leopoldstädter Tempel
Tas from the Leopoldstadt Temple

Tora-Mantel
Meil of Cäcilie Königswarter

Königswarter dedicated the accompanying Torah mantle as well.
Meil von Cäcilie Königswarter
Meil of Cäcilie Königswarter

Tora-Vorhang
Parokhet, donated by Eduard and Sophie Todesco

The banker and textile manufacturer Eduard von Todesco and his wife Sophie—who hosted one of Vienna’s most renowned salons—donated a Torah curtain adorned with stars and ornamental patterns, “to glorify the house of God.”
Parochet, gestiftet von Eduard und Sophie Todesco
Parokhet, donated by Eduard and Sophie Todesco

Fotoabzug
The Leopoldstadt Synagogue in Vienna after the devastating fire of 1917

Following the religious ceremony in the temple, the honored guests were invited to dinner at the nearby establishment Sperl, where Johann Strauss II, a close friend of the Todesco family, performed with his orchestra.

In the decades that followed, the Leopoldstadt Temple was gradually expanded, eventually receiving two additional side wings. From 1893 onward, the Israelite Theological Institute was housed in the building’s north wing. In 1917, a devastating fire following a service for Jewish soldiers forced the synagogue to remain closed for several years.

Der Leopoldstädter Tempel in Wien nach der Brandkatastrophe 1917
The Leopoldstadt Synagogue in Vienna after the devastating fire of 1917

Tora-Vorhang
Parokhet from the Leopoldstadt Temple

“Does anyone recall that this Jewish temple stands on Viennese soil as a memorial to reconciliation?” wrote acting Rabbi Dr. Max Grunwald in “Dr. Bloch’s Austrian Weekly” after the fire.

For the reopening of the synagogue in 1921, the “Committee for the Restoration of the Leopoldstadt Temple” dedicated a Torah curtain to the house of worship and to Max Grunwald.

Parochet aus dem Leopoldstädter Tempel
Parokhet from the Leopoldstadt Temple

Fotoabzug
Two photographs of the destroyed Leopoldstadt Temple at Tempelgasse 3 in Vienna’s 2nd district (Leopoldstadt) in 1938

Max Grunwald was not only a beloved rabbi but also a respected scholar closely associated with the first Jewish Museum. After the National Socialists seized power, he fled to Jerusalem, where he died in 1953.

Like all other Viennese synagogues, the Leopoldstadt Temple was plundered and set on fire during the November Pogrom of 1938.

Zwei Fotografien des 1938 zerstörten Leopoldstädter Tempels in der Tempelgasse 3 in Wien II. (Leopoldstadt)
Two photographs of the destroyed Leopoldstadt Temple at Tempelgasse 3 in Vienna’s 2nd district (Leopoldstadt) in 1938

Fotografie
Photo of the memorial for the Leopoldstadt Temple

Today, four white columns stand on the former site of the synagogue. They serve as a memorial, recalling the once significant presence of the Leopoldstadt Temple.
Foto vom Memorial für den Leopoldstädter Tempel
Photo of the memorial for the Leopoldstadt Temple