New Synagogue

The New Synagogue in Dresden was completed in 2001 and designed by architects Rena Wandel-Hoefer and Wolfgang Lorch. It was built on the same location as the Semper Synagogue (1839-1840) designed by Gottfried Semper, which was destroyed in 1938, during the Kristallnacht.

The architecture is based on the form of the first Israelite temples. The gradual twisting of the building serves to turn the direction for prayer to the East. The only original element surviving from the Semper synagogue, a golden Star of David, was placed at the main entrance to the new building. The boundary wall of the New Synagogue incorporates the last remaining fragments of Semper's original building. The building was shortlisted by the jury for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture in 2003.