Home»All Photographs»Germany World Heritage (click to see more)»ShUM sites of Speyer, Worms and Mainz»Worms, Synagogengarten

A Jewish community is believed to have existed in Worms as early as the 10th century. A first synagogue of the community that settled close to the city's northern wall, close to its commercial centre, is known to have existed in 1034. The synagogue dating from 1174-75, the women's synagogue from 1213, the ritual bath from 1185-86 which has survived largely in its original form, and the Rashi college (yeshiva), often called the Rashi chapel, dating from 1623-24 have been preserved. Above the cellars of the mediaeval dancing house, the Rashi House was built in 1980-82, accommodating the Jewish Museum and the city archives. The foundations of other municipal buildings dating back to the Middle Ages – a bakehouse, a hot bath and a hospital – have not yet been excavated.