# Rīgas Horālā sinagoga

> This file is a plain-text rendition of a page on mytuur.com, generated from the same data as the HTML version.

Canonical page: https://mytuur.com/en/city/riga/spot/rigas-horala-sinagoga/

Content updated: 2026-06-22

Riga Choral Synagogue stood in Riga as the city’s largest synagogue for many years. Paul von Hardenack designed the building, completed in 1871 in a Renaissance Revival style. Its cantors and choir drew worshippers to services, gatherings, and cultural events from across Riga. Jewish religious and communal life filled its halls before the Second World War.

During the German occupation, the synagogue was burned on 4 July 1941. German forces filmed the destruction, which later appeared in a Wehrmacht newsreel. Soviet authorities demolished the remaining walls after the war and transformed the grounds into a public square. The site now preserves the memory of Jewish residents, refugees, victims, and rescuers connected with Riga’s Holocaust history.

A Star of David marked the place with a commemorative stone in 1988. In 1993, Sergejs Rižs created a memorial shaped like the synagogue’s walls, incorporating archaeological remains. A second memorial followed in 2007 for Jānis Lipke and others who helped save more than 400 Jews. Broken masonry within those reconstructed outlines gives the square its most tangible link to the vanished building.

- City: [Riga](https://mytuur.com/en/city/riga/)

## Photos

- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_RigaChoralSynagogue_68750b96622f9d68e0bc03a5_0.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Memorial.Choral_Synagogue_\(Riga\)_02.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_RigaChoralSynagogue_68750b96622f9d68e0bc03a5_1.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Great_Choral_Synagogue_\(Riga\).jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_RigaChoralSynagogue_68750b96622f9d68e0bc03a5_2.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:V10p417001_Riga.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_RigaChoralSynagogue_68750b96622f9d68e0bc03a5_3.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Location_map_Latvia_Riga.png)

Spots like this one are the stops myTuur strings into tours through Riga. In the app, each story begins where you stand: walk up to a spot and it starts, read it on screen or listen as you go, then follow the route to the next one.

## What is myTuur?

myTuur is a free city-guide app. Its tours are built from spots, and each spot carries a story that starts when you get there, to read or to listen to as you like.