Belgrade Synagogue

Sukkat Shalom Synagogue Serbian: Београдска синагога / Beogradska sinagoga
The synagogue today
Basic information
Location	Belgrade
Affiliation	Judaism
Municipality	Stari Grad
District	Obilićev Venac
Ecclesiastical or organizational status	active
Architectural description
Architectural type	Neoclassical
Completed	1925

Sukkat Shalom Synagogue or Belgrade Synagogue (Serbian: Београдска синагога / Beogradska sinagoga) is currently the only fully active Jewish place of worship in Serbian capital Belgrade, as other synagogues citywide are not active. It is located in central Belgrade area, near Obilićev Venac Square and central high street Knez Mihailova.

The history of the Jews in Belgrade can be documented since the Ottoman conquest of Belgrade in 1521; not long afterwards, in the mid 1500s, Sephardic Jews began to settle in larger numbers: according to the census data for 1567 and 1573, there were several Jewish congregations and three synagogues. During the 17th century the Jewish community settles in the area near the Danube riverfront known as Jalije (from Turk. yalı, lit. “shore”). The life of the Jews began to improve after Serbia was set on the path to independence in the first half of the 19th century, and they were granted equal civil rights after the Congress of Berlin (1878).

The settlement of Ashkenazi Jews in Belgrade can be traced back to the 18th century, but the community considerably grew in the mid-19th and the first half of the 20th century. In 1869, on 1 October, a separate Ashkenazi community was founded and the “Rule of the Ashkenazi Jewish Congregation” (as the community in the making was called) was laid down in twenty articles, which, among other things, envisaged the founding of a school and a place of worship. Its approval by the city administration laid the formal groundwork for the new Ashkenazi community. At first the community rented a building in Kosmajska(present-day Maršala Birjuzova) Street for its religious, administrative, cultural and other needs. Fundraising to support the construction of a purpose-built, more functional building began on the eve of the First World War, but the cornerstone, with a charter on parchment signed by King Alexander and Queen Maria sealed within it, was solemnly laid only after the war, on 15 June 1924. The ceremony was attended by the envoys of the King and the government of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the representatives of the Jewish congregations, of various corporations, the President of the National Assembly, and the Chief Rabbi Dr. Alkalaj.