The Leo Baeck Institute London is pleased to announce that the inaugural LBI Year Book Essay Prize was won by Barry Stiefel, with his essay on “The Architectural Origins of the Great Early Modern Urban Synagogue”, which appeared in the Leo Baeck Institute Year Book 2011.
Throughout the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, synagogues across Christian Europe were generally small and, as far as their exteriors were concerned, they adhered to prevailing norms of vernacular architecture, so as to be “invisible” or at least unrecognizable as houses of worship.1 This was not just a defensive measure by Jews in order to avoid unwanted attention but was also a result of the restrictions placed upon the Jewish populace by the government which required that they be inconspicuous. Synagogues are important artefacts of Jewish material culture. Their size renders them immovable and they represent a substantial investment in resources. This either requires a communal investment or a significant sum from a benevolent benefactor. Like any form of art, a statement is made through the production, visibility, and maintenance of synagogue architecture. Therefore a “great synagogue” constitutes a much larger, more pronounced statement. The cultural meaning of a great synagogue can be echoed, and thus reinforced, when aspects of its architectural design are duplicated elsewhere.
Barry Stiefel is an Associate Professor in the Historic Preservation & Community Planning program at the College of Charleston. A strong advocate for the preservation of Jewish heritage, he promotes research into how local preservation efforts affect regional, national, and multi-national policies within the field of cultural resource management and heritage conservation. Barry advocates for heritage conservation to develop a more people-centered approach. A people-centred approach requires the heritage practitioner to facilitating the gathering and interpretation of meanings of particular buildings and spaces with the people who use these spaces and buildings.
