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JewishHubAzerbaijan

Heritage

Lost synagogues

A catalogue of buildings that are gone or that serve another purpose today. We describe what a source confirms and state how reliable each reconstruction is.

  • Great (Choral) Synagogue, Baku

    VerifiedCondition: Repurposed

    The largest synagogue of pre-revolutionary Baku, closed in 1934. The building survived: it was handed to the Azerbaijan State Jewish Theatre and then to the Rashid Behbudov Song Theatre, which occupies it to this day. Sources disagree on when it was built.

    There is no 3D model. We do not publish a reconstruction before the evidence it would rest on.

    Sources

  • Synagogue of the Kurdish Jews, Baku

    VerifiedCondition: Fate unknown

    The synagogue of the Kurdish Jewish community, present in Baku from 1827. Closed in 1939. What became of the building is unknown: no consulted source gives an address, a description or a later fate.

    There is no 3D model. We do not publish a reconstruction before the evidence it would rest on.

    Sources

  • The first prayer house, Baku

    Needs reviewCondition: Fate unknown

    Baku's first Jewish prayer house, built in 1832 and converted into a synagogue in 1896. The consulted sources give no address, no description of the building and nothing about its later fate.

    There is no 3D model. We do not publish a reconstruction before the evidence it would rest on.

    Sources

  • The artisans' synagogue, Baku

    Needs reviewCondition: Fate unknown

    A synagogue that opened in the 1870s and was known as the artisans' synagogue. The single consulted source names it in one clause: no address, no description, no fate.

    There is no 3D model. We do not publish a reconstruction before the evidence it would rest on.

    Sources

  • Mountain Jews' synagogue in Sabunchi

    Needs reviewCondition: Fate unknown

    A Mountain Jews' synagogue in the oil-field suburb of Sabunchi, operating at the end of the nineteenth century. In the early twentieth century a new building was put up for the community in the city centre; what became of the Sabunchi one is not reported.

    There is no 3D model. We do not publish a reconstruction before the evidence it would rest on.

    Sources

How we will work with reconstructions

  • The document comes first: a photograph, a drawing, a description, an archive record.
  • Every element of a model is marked as confirmed, probable or interpretation.
  • A modern map or photograph is never presented as a historical reconstruction.
  • A model is published together with the sources it is built on.

Section last checked: 19 September 2026