One of the unique lost objects of architecture and history Minsk is Great Synagogue (Cold). Today, only old photographs remind us that such a building was once located in the very center of the capital.
This stone synagogue was located between a famous building on Liberty square 17 (Belpromproekt) and a popular shopping center “Nemiga 3".
A good landmark is the entrance with metal gates, just behind them is the place where the Minsk synagogue was.
The synagogue on Nemiga was considered the oldest in Minsk. Some sources indicate that the building was built in the second half of the 16th century. There is also an assumption that the synagogue was rebuilt from an Orthodox church, bought by the Jewish community at the very end of the 18th century (1796).
The building has a strict architecture with defensive elements and at the same time with all the attributes of classical Jewish temples. The shape of the building is rectangular with high arched windows and powerful buttresses.
The cold synagogue operated until 1930. Interestingly, after the end of the war, the building was even returned to the Jewish community for some time. The truth is too short, perhaps this was done only with the aim that the building could be restored.
In the 60s, a decision was made to demolish the building that “spoiled” the appearance of the street, especially since a skyscraper of the future institute of industrial design had already grown in the neighborhood.
By 1967, the Great Synagogue was finally dismantled. In the same period, a plan appeared to rebuild this section of Nemiga Street (the plan would be changed several times). The last stage of construction included just the Nemiga 3 shopping center and a large parking lot. This protracted stage began to be implemented in the 2000s. Below is the point with the place where the Cold Synagogue was located:
Across the road you can see Peter and Paul Cathedraland going up the street to look into Church of the Virgin Mary.
