The Synagogue [Hardcover]

Harold Meek (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 5, 1995

Throughout the long and tortuous history of the Jews, the synagogue has been a constant presence and a source of spiritual strength. Playing a symbolic as well as a practical role, it has acted as the focus for the faith of countless Jewish communities all over the world. The significance placed on the synagogue, with its rituals and traditions, emphasises the fact that Judaism is not simply a religion, but a way of life. In this book Harold Meek gradually unfolds the story of the synagogue from its origins in Solomon's Temple to its exuberant Baroque phase in Venice and thence to the classic simplicity of the modern building. Over the course of several millennia, the style of the synagogue has grown and developed, drawing in a vast array of cultural and artistic influences to produce a rich and coherent heritage. A heritage that is always aware of its biblical antecedents and still strongly based on God's commandments to Moses to construct a Tabernacle in the desert. Highly illustrated, with much specially commissioned photography from around the world, this book provides a detailed and comprehensive picture of the synagogue and its decoration. Numerous metropolitan and provincial synagogues, from the flamboyantly Moorish to the sparsely contemporary, are represented as a monument to the art and architecture of Judaism.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

More than a gloriously illustrated celebration of the Jewish synagogue, this stirring album charts Jewish history, culture and worship through the prism of Jews' houses of worship. Beginning with Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, completed in 950 BCE, British architectural historian Meek surveys early synagogues of the Greco-Roman world, ornate Islamic-style temples built under Moslem rule in Spain, Renaissance and Baroque prayer-houses of Venice and Padua. We visit the Great Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam (1671-75), spiritual center of western Sephardim, the extraordinary wooden temples of Poland, built as early as 1642 (all torched by the Germans in WWII), Marc Chagall's stained-glass windows depicting the Twelve Tribes of Israel in a Jerusalem synagogue and modernist temples in the U.S. designed by Walter Gropius, Philip Johnson and Frank Lloyd Wright. More than 200 prints, architectural drawings, paintings and photographs, most in color, complement an informal text to evoke the synagogue as a reservoir of spiritual strength and renewal.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Phaidon Press (November 5, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714829323
• ISBN-13: 978-0714829326
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 10.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,527,804 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing book, February 12, 2004

By 

Seth J. Frantzman (Jerusalem, Israel) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Synagogue (Hardcover)

A Beautiful book that explores the great diversity of Synagogues throughout the ages and across the world. From the most modern to the smallest and the largest. From wood synagogues in eastern Europe, to the great temple of Florence(which I lived next door to) this is simply a wonderful book and will make a great gift or a great coffee table read. The pictures are amazing with many photos and short text dedicated to virtually hundreds of temples across the world, some of which are no longer in use or no longer exist.