Talk:Grand Choral Synagogue (Saint Petersburg)

Grand Choral Synagogue of St. Petersburg - name variants
This article is titled according to the traditional official name of this synagogue in English:

Grand Choral Synagogue of St. Petersburg

This is arguably the most accurate English translation of the original name Большая Хоральная Синагога in Russian. However, all other name variants do exist in a large variety of sources. The recent donation by the Safra family of 5M for the reconstruction, came under their condition to add their name to the official name of the synagogue. Steveshelokhonov 02:44, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

St. Petersburg Synagogue was built to replace other smaller Jewish Chapels
By 1870 there were more than ten smaller Jewish Chapels in St. Petersburg, however, there was no Grand Synagogue to serve the entire Jewish community in the Russian capital. The permit for construction of the Grand Synagogue was granted under the condition that the new large synagogue shall be big enough to hold 2 thousand, in order to replace smaller Jewish Chapels, so that the smaller chapels would be closed. This was done upon the insistence from the Imperial Security which was known for their anti-Semitism. Currently there are several synagogues in St. Petersburg, Russia.Steveshelokhonov 02:44, 24 August 2007 (UTC)