Uilenburger Synagoge

Uilenburger Synagoge stands in a secluded courtyard in Amsterdam’s former Jewish quarter, between Uilenburgerstraat and Uilenburgergracht. Built in 1766 for the Ashkenazi Jewish community, it has a rectangular plan and Louis XV details, including a projecting façade section and clock gable.

The main prayer hall occupies the upper floor, while the ground floor once hosted wedding celebrations and, after 1889, ritual poultry slaughter. The building survived early twentieth-century urban renewal, wartime plunder and the loss of much of Amsterdam’s Jewish community during the Holocaust. After 1954, it became a municipal restoration workshop, followed by courses and lectures from 1988. Religious services, concerts, lectures and gatherings continue here, with the progressive congregation Beit Ha’Chidush meeting there since 1997.

A national monument since 1970, the synagogue was restored in 1996 and 2015. Look for the bridge or lock stone set into the fence, alongside Amsterdam’s coat of arms from the former Haarlemmersluis and a 1974 memorial stone.