Grand Synagogue of Edirne

The Great Synagogue of Edirne at Maarif Caddesi 10 is the largest synagogue in Turkey and the third largest in Europe, after those of Budapest and Pilsen. It was built between 1907 and 1909 for the city's Sephardic community, whose ancestors had been received by Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II after the 1492 expulsion from Spain. The Viennese architect Franz Hochstrasser designed it in romantic historicist style, echoing Vienna's Leopoldstadt synagogue. A fire destroyed the roof in 1942 and from 1969 the building fell to ruin as Edirne's Jewish community shrank. After a thorough restoration the synagogue reopened in 2015. It now serves as a place of prayer and memory and opens to visitors between services.