Read the history of the synagogue.
Ten to sixteen families lived in Új Street as early as in the 13th century. This Gothic synagogue, almost unique of its kind in Central Europe, was built in the early 14th century and served as a prayer house, meeting hall and school at the same time. Next to it stood the pilgrims’ hostel that accommodated travellers as well, and the ritual baths, which can still be visited today.
The synagogue was not only a place of communal prayer, but also served as a school and meeting hall. Besides the Jews of Sopron, it was also open to those who spent a few days in the city as merchants and travellers. In line with a papal decree also observed in Hungary, the synagogue could not open directly onto the street, so it was built behind a small courtyard between two houses. One of the adjacent buildings was a hostel and hospital for the travelling paupers, an essential part of Jewish institutions everywhere. The ritual bath, one of the earliest such monuments in Europe, was located in this block of buildings, together with the synagogue. Little of the synagogue's interior layout and decoration has survived. The women had a separate prayer room with its own exit, and could only follow the events in the great hall through the narrow window slits. The Jews were expelled from Sopron in 1526, so the synagogue was destroyed and a house was built in its place. The building was excavated and restored as a historic monument in the late 1960s. Today it can be visited as a museum.