The Wörlitz Synagogue is a synagogue built in 1790 by order of Duke Leopold III of Anhalt-Dessau

Leopold III, Duke of Anhalt-Dessau

Leopold III Frederick Franz, Duke of Anhalt-Dessau , known as "Prince Franz" or "Father Franz", was a German prince of the House of Ascania...

. It is located within the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm

Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm

The Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm, also known as the English Grounds of Wörlitz, is one of the first and largest English parks in Germany and continental Europe...

, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

World Heritage Site

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...

 since 2000.

The duke, a follower of the Enlightenment

Age of Enlightenment

The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...

, had the synagogue built as an expression of his tolerance

Religious toleration

Toleration is "the practice of deliberately allowing or permitting a thing of which one disapproves. One can meaningfully speak of tolerating, ie of allowing or permitting, only if one is in a position to disallow”. It has also been defined as "to bear or endure" or "to nourish, sustain or preserve"...

 policy but also as an ornament for his gardens. The prior synagogue was torn down in the course of embellishing Wörlitz. It was the sole synagogue in the tiny town of Wörlitz

Wörlitz

' is a town and a former municipality in the district of Wittenberg, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2011, it is part of the town Oranienbaum-Wörlitz. It is situated on the left bank of the Elbe, east of Dessau...

 and was used by its Jewish community in an era when Jews lived in German principalities by permission of the prince (here: Anhalt-Dessau

Anhalt-Dessau

Anhalt-Dessau was a principality and later a duchy located in Germany. It was created in 1396 following the partition of the Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst. The capital of the state was Dessau. Anhalt-Dessau experienced a number of partitions throughout its existence with Anhalt-Köthen being...

).

The synagogue was designed by the Duke's court architect Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff, who modeled it after the "Temple of Vesta" in Tivoli

Tivoli, Italy

Tivoli , the classical Tibur, is an ancient Italian town in Lazio, about 30 km east-north-east of Rome, at the falls of the Aniene river where it issues from the Sabine hills...

.

Twelve pilasters adorn the exterior. One door led to the ground floor, entering the room opposite the Torah Ark. The other to the semicircular gallery supported by six Doric columns. The bimah

Bimah

A bimah A bimah A bimah (among Ashkenazim, derived from Hebrew בּמה , almemar (from Arabic al-minbar) or tebah (among Sephardim) is the elevated area or platform in a Jewish synagogue which is intended to serve the place where the person reading aloud from the Torah stands during the Torah reading...

 was in the center of the building. There are twelve round windows just below the roofline. The roof is a cone. The basement contained a mikvah

Mikvah

Mikveh is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism...

 and stove to heat the water.

The synagogue was declared a national monument in 1937. Although the building was badly damaged during the 1938 Nazi Kristallnacht

Kristallnacht

Kristallnacht, also referred to as the Night of Broken Glass, and also Reichskristallnacht, Pogromnacht, and Novemberpogrome, was a pogrom or series of attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on 9–10 November 1938.Jewish homes were ransacked, as were shops, towns and...

pogrom, the park's administration was able to prevent its complete demolition. Since 2003 it has been restored and is now a small museum showcasing the history of the Jewish community of Wörlitz.