3 Best Sights in Germany

This meticulously restored landmark, built between 1859 and 1866, is an exotic amalgam of styles, the whole faintly Middle Eastern. Its bulbous, gilded cupola stands out in the skyline. When its doors opened, it was the largest synagogue in Europe, with 3,200 seats. The synagogue was damaged on November 9, 1938 (Kristallnacht—Night of the Broken Glass), when Nazi looters rampaged across Germany, burning synagogues and smashing the few Jewish shops and homes left in the country. It was destroyed by Allied bombing in 1943, and it wasn't until the mid-1980s that the East German government restored it. The effective exhibit on the history of the building and its congregants includes fragments of the original architecture and furnishings. Sabbath services are held in a modern addition.

This first synagogue in Worms was built in 1034, rebuilt in 1175, and expanded in 1213 with a synagogue for women. Destroyed in 1938, it was rebuilt in 1961 using as much of the original masonry as had survived. It is located in the Jewish quarter, which is along the town wall between Martinspforte and Friesenspitze and between Judengasse and Hintere Judengasse. Next door to the synagogue is a former study hall, dance hall, and Jewish home for the elderly, which now houses the city archives and the Jewish Museum. The well-written, illustrated booklet Jewish Worms chronicles a millennium of Jewish history in Worms.

In the Middle Ages Erfurt hosted a large Jewish community, as is evident in a large synagogue that is one of the oldest in Central Europe. A pogrom destroyed the community in the 14th century, and the city repurposed the building, renovating it several times. During renovations in 1999 in a nearby building, workers uncovered more than 30 kg of gold and silver in coins and objects buried by the community during the pogrom. The Erfurt Treasure is the heart of the museum.