Skip to main content
Menu
♥ Donate
eventREF E-0011289Revised

Event record

The mayor of Cape Town, Hyman Lieberman, opens the Great Synagogue in the Gardens, Cape Town

Date
13 Sep 1905
Updated
30 Sep 2019
The mayor of Cape Town, Hyman Lieberman, opens the Great Synagogue in the Gardens, Cape Town

Cape Town has a substantial Jewish community, the majority of who are descendents of Lithuanian immigrants. By 1863, the Jewish congregation in Cape Town had grown to such an extent that a new building was needed. The original synagogue, or shul, was built in what is now the Jewish Museum complex. In 1905, the congregation had increased to the extent that a still larger building was needed, and so the Great Synagogue or Gardens Schul was built alongside the Old Schul, and opened by Cape Town's first Jewish mayor, Hyman Lieberman. Today, the Gardens Schul is the oldest active congregation in South Africa, and is designed in an 'Egyptian revival style'.

Search events by date

What happened on your birthday?
View more events from this day

How we know this

  1. 01Wallis, F. (2000) Nuusdagboek: feite en fratse oor 1000 jaar, Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau
  2. 02Weiner, R. (unknown) 'The Virtual Jewish History Tour: South Africa' from Jewish Virtual Library [online] Available at: www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org [Accessed 6 September 2010]

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). The mayor of Cape Town, Hyman Lieberman, opens the Great Synagogue in the Gardens, Cape Town. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011289

South African History Online (2011) 'The mayor of Cape Town, Hyman Lieberman, opens the Great Synagogue in the Gardens, Cape Town', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011289 (Accessed: 12 August 2026).

South African History Online, The mayor of Cape Town, Hyman Lieberman, opens the Great Synagogue in the Gardens, Cape Town [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011289, (accessed 12 August 2026).

"The mayor of Cape Town, Hyman Lieberman, opens the Great Synagogue in the Gardens, Cape Town." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011289. Accessed 12 Aug. 2026.

South African History Online. "The mayor of Cape Town, Hyman Lieberman, opens the Great Synagogue in the Gardens, Cape Town." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011289.

Further reading

Mooivallei, Dairy Farm Place

Mooivallei, Dairy Farm

Mooivallei Suiwel is a cheese and butter producer based at Bonnievale, a town in the Breede River Valley in the Western....
Popular Content

SAHO is free because readers fund it. Donate →