Synagogue Architecture and Art: New Horizons

Dear Colleagues,

The synagogue is, and has always been, an architecture of the collective and a haven for the individual. From its very inception in the ancient world, it was never a mere shell for a liturgy but a deliberate "setting" for the human drama of communal gathering, prayer, and intimate union with the Divine. It is a space where the invisible demands of the spirit take on a tangible, often idiosyncratic, spatial form. For a century and a half, scholars have sought to decipher this fabric, yet our object of study remains elusive, undergoing a constant metamorphosis through the violent ruptures of war, the slow decay of abandonment, and the hopeful excavations of the spade.

Six years after the inauguration of our first inquiry into this subject—which may be consulted in the initial volume, Synagogue Architecture and Art—we return to this fertile ground. This second Special Issue marks a renewed commitment to capturing the evolving "state of the art," acknowledging that the passage of time only deepens our understanding of these sacred precincts.

We have long moved beyond the taxonomical "quest for typology" that once haunted architectural history. The sterile debate over the "existence" of Jewish architecture has been superseded by a more profound concern: the anthropology of Jewish sacred space across its theological, cultural, and artistic contexts. We now understand the synagogue as a site where religious, communal, and personal identities are not merely housed but performed, displayed, and perceived. The research has evolved into a study of the "semantics of the threshold"—investigating how the building, its massing, its décor, and its ritual venues act as instruments for the creation and preservation of meaning and significance.

Our scope is global and diachronic. We invite investigations into the "mental geographies" of the synagogue across all eras—from the newly unearthed fragments of the Mediterranean littoral to the migrant sanctuaries of the Americas and the vibrant, often overlooked traditions of South and East Asia. We welcome studies on the materiality of memory, the ethics of preservation, and the virtual—digital or analogue—reconstruction of lost synagogues.

New Horizons and Themes for Inquiry

This Special Issue of Arts invites art and architectural historians, historians, and cultural anthropologists to join an ongoing exchange of ideas.

Alongside established avenues of research, we encourage contributions that engage with the following themes:

• The Primordial and the Portable: The tension between the "fixed" masonry of the synagogue and the memory of the nomadic Tabernacle; the synagogue as a "portable homeland" for the immigrant body.
• The Historical, the Present, and the Messianic: The visual references between the synagogue and Temple imagined in its sacred past and eschatological future.
• The Scenography of the Holy: The ritual venue as a stage set—how it dictates the movement, sightlines, and hierarchy of the congregation.
• The Materiality of Memory: The use of "spolia", or ancient fragments, in new constructions; the synagogue as a palimpsest where layers of history are physically visible in the stone and paint.
• The Domestic and the Monumental: The shifting scale of the synagogue, from the humble "house of study" to the grand, civic-minded "temples" of the modern European metropolises.
• Sonic and Visual Interplay: How the acoustics of the vaulted space and the visual program of the frescoes or glass work together to "tune" the environment for prayer.
• Digital Reconstructions and Virtual Fabric: The ethics and aesthetics of "recreating" lost synagogues through digital modeling; can the genius loci of a razed building be recovered in a virtual void?

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200–400 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Arts editorial office (arts@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the guest editors to ensure proper fit within the scope of this Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review. Please note that MDPI’s Article Processing Charges apply to all articles accepted for publication. We encourage authors to consult the journal’s fee structure before final submission.

We encourage contributors to consult the Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art, the world’s preeminent digital archive of Jewish visual culture. We extend special thanks to the Center for Jewish Art for providing its own copyright materials for the articles in this Special Issue free of charge.

Prof. Dr. Ilia Rodov
Dr. Sergey R. Kravtsov
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Arts is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• synagogue architecture
• synagogue art
• Jewish ritual spaces
• Jewish art
• ritual architecture and art