Synagoge Glockengasse

The Glockengasse Synagogue in Cologne was a major Jewish house of worship built on the site of the former Poor Clare convent of St. Maria im Tempel. Cologne Cathedral's master builder Ernst Friedrich Zwirner designed the building, and the banker Baron Abraham von Oppenheim covered the entire cost of construction. After the foundation stone was laid in 1857, the synagogue was solemnly consecrated in 1861. It is considered an early example of a domed central-plan building on a Greek-cross floor plan, in which the four equal arms drew on Byzantine architecture.

The building stood out for its distinctive design. A low vestibule wing with five rooms served as the entrance to the women's galleries and also housed the apartment of the synagogue attendant. The facade featured a projecting central bay, flanked by side wings and a crenellated parapet. Four small, minaret-like turrets crowned the cornice, while a dome with a lantern and an onion dome rose above the crossing. Inside, slender iron columns supported the two-story galleries, while the walls and arches were decorated with stucco and painted in blue, red, and gold. The Torah ark in the eastern arm was made of white Carrara marble.

After a fire in 1867, the building was rebuilt according to the original plans. During the November pogroms of 1938, the synagogue was destroyed. Today, a bronze plaque on the facade of the opera house at Offenbachplatz commemorates the former site of this historic building.