Explore the Museum at Eldridge Street

Explore the Museum at Eldridge Street

Explore the Museum at Eldridge Street with longtime Lower East Side resident and museum docent Richard Soden!

  • See the stunning rose window –  designed by artist Kiki Smith and architect Deborah Gans – made of 1,200 individually shaped pieces of colored glass, etched with more than 650 stars
  • Learn the history of Jewish immigration
  • Understand the architecture of the synagogue
  • View artifacts housed in the museum

About the event:

Once the most densely populated district in the world, the Lower East Side of Manhattan is almost unrecognizable from its bustling days a century ago. However, one site that has (somewhat) remained the same is the Eldridge Street Synagogue. The synagogue was built in 1887 as the first great house of worship by Eastern European Jews in the United States.

For decades, the synagogue thrived. In the 1920s however, many Jewish families began to move away from the Lower East Side and new immigration restrictions prevented families already here from reconnecting with loved ones. The Eldridge Street Synagogue was abandoned. After decades, the dust inside was so thick you could write in it, and cobwebs hung between the pillars. There was extensive water damage to the dome, with water pouring in from the openings.

In 1987, the Eldridge Street Project was formed to restore the synagogue to its former grandeur. Twenty years and $20 million later, the building reopened as the Museum at Eldridge Street.

On this one-hour tour, you’ll be amazing by the restored grandeur of this historic synagogue!

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