Synagogue Square, which was redone in 2001, used to hold a
synagogue that was burned down by the Nazis in the pogrom
night of November 10, 1938. It was built in 1877/78, designed
by architect Hermann Behaghel. The prayer room that had been
used since 1714 in the older house The Blue Lily
had grown too small.
The city of Heidelberg redid the square with support from
a citizens initiative, with white marble paving stones
marking where the walls of the destroyed synagogue once stood.
Gray granite indicates the windows and entrance. Twelve sandstone
cubes, some of them illuminated, symbolize the pews and recall
the twelve tribes of Israel.