The Worms Synagogue, also called the Rashi Shul, was first completed in 1034 and is considered the oldest existing synagogue in Germany. The First Crusade destroyed that building in 1096, a second was completed in 1175, and a mikveh was built southwest of it in 1186. A Women's Synagogue was added in 1213.
The stone-and-slate building dates from when late Romanesque was giving way to Gothic. The prayer hall is rectangular, with a pair of Romanesque columns supporting groin vaults and Gothic-arched windows in thick walls. Reconstruction after 1355 introduced Gothic window and vault forms.
Pogroms in 1349 and 1615 and a fire in 1689 caused heavy damage. The 1938 Kristallnacht reduced it to rubble, and it was rebuilt in 1961 using as many original stones as could be salvaged. UNESCO inscribed it in 2021 as part of the ShUM Sites. It is both an active synagogue and a museum.
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