@reelmediaofficiel

Une bibliothèque dans une synagogue ! 📚📖 Connais-tu l’incroyable synagogue de Thann ? Inaugurée en 1862, elle va bientôt accueillir une bibliothèque yiddish, grâce au Prix Sésame ! Un projet porté par la Fondation du patrimoine, en Alsace. 🇫🇷🕍

♬ son original - Réel média

Breath, Stone, and Light: The Architecture of a Dream Shaped Across Centuries

Avishai Cohen’s interpretation of Liebestraum Nr. 3 transforms Liszt’s Romantic dream into a contemporary meditation where bass, piano, and breath create a pulsing landscape of tenderness, stretching the original melody into a suspended moment where classical longing meets jazz introspection. His bass lines move like quiet tides beneath crystalline piano phrasing, giving the piece a sense of weight and air at once, as if the composition were being rediscovered from within. This re‑imagined Liebestraum resonates uncannily with the story of the Consistorial Synagogue of Metz: both works take something deeply rooted in the past and reveal its inner light through a contemporary lens. Just as Cohen lets Liszt’s melody breathe differently — warmer, more spacious, more human — the restoration of the Metz synagogue allows its Jaumont stone to glow again with the memory of centuries. Music and monument share the same emotional architecture: a dialogue between what was and what still lives, between heritage and renewal, between the light absorbed long ago and the light released today, proving that beauty is not preserved but reawakened.

🎶 🏺🏛️🕍🪨🌞🪔📜🌿✨🎨🧡🌤️🌀🪵🍊 🔊 Liebestraum Nr 3 - Avishai Cohen

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“Architecture is the triumph of human imagination over materials, methods, and men.” — Marcel Breuer

Marcel Breuer’s reflection captures the essence of every monumental structure that survives its century: the idea that architecture is not merely built, but imagined, inhabited, and continually reinterpreted. The Consistorial Synagogue of Metz embodies this principle with striking clarity. A 19th‑century neo‑Romanesque masterpiece, it stands at the crossroads of French, Germanic, and Jewish histories — a place where continuity defies adversity, where stone and memory intertwine. Today, as the building undergoes one of the most ambitious restorations in its history, Metz’s synagogue reclaims its role not only as a house of worship, but as a living testament to a millennium of Jewish presence in the city.

🕍 A Monument Born from 19th‑Century Ambition

Constructed between 1848 and 1850, the Consistorial Synagogue of Metz emerged at a moment when the Jewish community sought to affirm its place within the rapidly modernizing French nation. Designed in a sober yet imposing neo‑Romanesque style, the building was conceived to accommodate an exceptionally large congregation — up to 1,500 worshippers — making it one of the most significant synagogues in France at the time. Its vast nave, flanked by side aisles and crowned by two levels of galleries, reflects both architectural pragmatism and spiritual aspiration. The use of Jaumont stone, characteristic of the region, anchors the synagogue in the urban fabric of Metz while giving it a luminous, golden presence. More than a religious structure, it was a civic statement: a declaration of visibility, stability, and intellectual vitality from a community that had shaped the city for centuries.

🏺 A Jewish Community Rooted in a Millennium of History

Few Jewish communities in Europe can claim a lineage as continuous and influential as that of Metz. The city was home to Rabbi Gershom ben Judah — the “Light of the Exile” — in the 10th century, whose rulings, including the prohibition of polygamy, shaped Jewish law across the continent. By the 16th and 17th centuries, Metz had become a rare exception in the kingdom of France, which had expelled its Jews in 1394. Thanks to its strategic status as a fortified city contested between France and the Holy Roman Empire, Metz allowed Jewish families to settle, trade, and eventually flourish. A renowned yeshiva, an active Hebrew printing press, and a succession of distinguished rabbis made the city a center of Jewish scholarship. This uninterrupted presence — through wars, annexations, revolutions, and renaissances — forms the deep historical soil from which the 19th‑century synagogue would later rise. Yet Metz was not alone in carrying this legacy: in Thann, the Jewish community first appeared between the 13th century and 1500, returning only after the devastation of the Thirty Years’ War. By the early 19th century, they worshipped in a makeshift oratory installed in a barn, which was demolished in 1859 to make way for a larger synagogue inaugurated in 1862. Partially destroyed in 1915, it was rebuilt in a neo‑Byzantine style enriched with Hispano‑Moorish motifs — a deliberate evocation of the Jewish people’s Eastern origins and the mythical golden age of Andalusia before the expulsion of 1492. Together, these intertwined histories reveal a broader tapestry of Jewish resilience in eastern France, where communities rebuilt, reimagined, and reaffirmed their presence across the centuries.

🗺️ Louis XIV’s Visit: A Singular Moment in French Jewish History

When the Three Bishoprics were officially annexed to France in 1648, Metz became the only city in the kingdom with an officially recognized Jewish community. This unique status drew the attention of the monarchy itself. Louis XIV’s visit to the synagogue — an extraordinary event in an era when no other synagogue existed in France — symbolized both political curiosity and tacit acknowledgment of the community’s importance. The king’s presence marked a turning point: it affirmed the legitimacy of Jewish life in a territory newly integrated into the French realm. Over the centuries, scholars, clergy, and travelers continued to visit the synagogue, fascinated by this enclave of Jewish continuity in a country where Jewish life had long been suppressed. The memory of the Sun King’s visit remains woven into the identity of the community, a reminder of its singular place in the national narrative.

🏛️ A Building That Survived the Turmoil of the 20th Century

The 20th century tested the resilience of the synagogue and the community it served. During the Second World War, the building was profaned and repurposed — sometimes as a warehouse, sometimes as a performance hall — yet it escaped the fate of many synagogues in Moselle, which were razed entirely. Its organ was dismantled to protect it, and much of the interior was damaged, but the structure endured. In 1946, a major restoration began, including the addition of the large neo‑Romanesque gable above the ark, which today defines the building’s interior silhouette. The synagogue’s survival is not merely architectural; it is symbolic. It stands as a witness to the deportation of 1,500 Jews from Metz, to the ruptures of annexation, and to the community’s determination to rebuild. Its inscription as a Monument Historique in 1984 formalized its status as a national treasure.

🧱 A Restoration Project to Renew a National Treasure

The current restoration — initiated by the Consistoire Israélite de la Moselle and the Jewish Community of Metz — represents the most ambitious intervention since the postwar period. The façade, weakened by time and the erosion of Jaumont stone, will be consolidated; the monumental steps will be reset; and the historic doors along Rue du Rabbin Elie Bloch will be repainted. Inside, layers of paint will be removed to reveal the original stone pillars, while fissures will be repaired and the parquet floors, ceiling, stained‑glass windows, and decorative elements will be restored to their 1850 appearance. The project unfolds over two years, from 2023 to 2025, during which the synagogue will remain closed to the public. When it reopens, it will not simply be a restored building — it will be a renewed vessel of memory, culture, and spiritual life, reconnecting Metz with its own extraordinary past.

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#HeritageRestored 🏛️ #SynagogueRevived 🕍 #HistoryPreserved 📜 #MetzAcrossCenturies 🌍 #LightOfMemory ✨