The Turkish Temple in Zirkusgasse

The Sephardic community experienced its heyday from the mid-nineteenth century. In 1887 it opened the magnificent neo-Moorish Turkish Temple, which was meant to be reminiscent of the Alhambra in Granada. In 1937, its president David M. Halfon commissioned Oskar Moser to photograph the synagogue’s ritual objects, including the two Esther scrolls. The on the left-hand photo is in the Visible Display area of the Museum. The temple was destroyed in 1938.