The Great Synagogue of Ludza

In view of its substantial proportion of authentic wooden parts, the Great Synagogue of Ludza is considered the oldest synagogue in Latvia and the entire Baltic States.

Wooden synagogues (in Ludza, built circa 1800; in Rēzekne, built in 1845) are considered exceptional Jewish cultural monuments unique to Northeast Europe on account of their equivalents elsewhere on the continent being lost to history in the course of the 20th century. Records suggest that around 700 wooden synagogues were built in Eastern Europe over 700 years. The total number of existing wooden synagogue buildings (with fixtures) across Europe does not exceed four or five. Sometime after 1875, when the synagogue of Ludza experienced technical issues, it was covered in clay bricks.

The building functioned as a church until the 1980s. In November 2013, the Great Synagogue of Ludza was listed as a cultural monument of national importance. In 2014, the local council launched a restoration project for the synagogue, which ended in 2016 when the Great Synagogue of Ludza became a structural unit of Ludza Local History Museum.