The Torino Jewish community, having obtained emancipation in 1848, decided to build a grand Synagogue. They turned to Alessandro Antonelli, who was at the time the most sought-after architect in the city. Antonelli designed the Mole Antonelliana, but the building, which today houses the Museo nazionale del Cinema (National Museum of Cinema) and is the symbol of Torino, never housed the community Synagogue. The present Synagogue, designed in Moorish style by Enrico Petiti, was inaugurated in 1884 and bombed in 1942. Inside, decorations and furniture were destroyed, and then reconstructed in 1949. The large Temple, in stone, can house up to 1400 people, and it is characterized by four onion-shaped domes, which cover the towers, and by two series of open galleries that go around two sides of the building. The women's gallery, on the first floor, goes around three sides. The small Temple was built in 1972 in the shape of an amphitheatre: a typical shape of the period preceding emancipation. It has vaulted ceilings and roughly finished walls, with the brickwork on show. The splendid furnishings come from the baroque Sinagogue of Chieri. The Tevà, also baroque, is decorated with blue and gold lacquer; the Aron, in pure Piedmont baroque style, is golden with small blue, marble-like columns supported by Corinthian capitals.
