[Jewish Press] The famed Great Synagogue of Pilsen is returning to Jewish hands and hearts after 20 years as a Czech concert hall and art museum.After more than a decade of intense lobbying, the city fathers of the Czech Republic’s Pilsen municipality have made a decision to return the majestic synagogue in their care to its rightful owners, the city’s Jews.
Seized by the Communists in 1973, the synagogue ‐ originally completed in 1893 -- had been shut down and then woefully neglected, ultimately falling into disrepair.
The city fathers reclaimed it and began restoration in 1995, working slowly to rehabilitate the beautifully sculpted architecture until it shined again in 1998.
But then, instead of returning the synagogue to Pilsen’s Jewish community, inexplicably, authorities reopened the building as an art museum and concert hall.
The Great Synagogue of Pilsen is justifiably renowned throughout the world, in continuous use from the time it was built in 1893 until its seizure by the Communists, except for the years of the horror of the Holocaust. It is the second-largest Jewish house of worship in Europe and is known to be the third-largest synagogue that exists in the world.