Embark on a 3-hour historical journey through Jewish Vienna, exploring the rich culture, resilience, and revival of the Jewish community. Discover the contributions of influential figures, visit destroyed synagogues, and reflect on the Holocaust memorial.
- Stadttempel Synagogue - Outside the beautiful doors of the Jewish City Temple, we consider the how the Viennese Jewish Community had to keep their synagogues barely visible from the street despite their influential role in their city’s development over centuries. Few European cities have been so closely intertwined with Jewish history as Vienna. Outside this important temple, we learn of Jewish life and increasing settlement in Vienna from the Middle Ages, despite dramatic expulsions.
We don’t visit the interior but we recommend that you contact the synagogue to arrange a tour with their own guides, open April to October, Monday to Thursday. If you take the 11:30 AM Monday synagogue tour and then enjoy your lunch, you are in the perfect place to begin our 2:00 PM tour of Jewish Vienna. If you take the 2:00 PM synagogue tour on Tuesday and Thursdays, it will fit well after our 9:30 AM Tuesday and Thursday tour with a lunch break.
- Theater Nestroyhof Hamakom - We consider the influence of Vienna’s modern Jewish community on every aspect of the city’s cultural life from outside the Nestroyhof Theater with its stunning Art Nouveau exterior, once home to Yiddish-speaking ensembles.
- Leopoldstadt - Winding through Vienna’s second district, to visit the memorial site of the destroyed Leopoldstädter Temple. Today, it is symbolized by four imposing white columns reaching up into the sky.
- Judenplatz Holocaust Memorial - Learn of the victims and survivors of Nazi genocide and the phenomenon of antisemitism in Europe while visiting the destroyed synagogues of both Ashkenazi and Sephardic congregations and the Judenplatz Holocaust Memorial.
- 3-hour guided stroll through Vienna’s Jewish heritage sites
- Metro fare. If you don’t have a visitor pass, our guide helps you to purchase at the first station.
During the Medieval period, Vienna’s Jewish population was among the biggest in Europe. This comprehensive 3-hour tour of Jewish Vienna delves into the trials and tribulations of the city’s Jewish residents throughout history, covering their expulsion, horrifying genocide, and subsequent resurgence. Led by a knowledgeable historian, you will uncover the significant impacts made by prior intellectual and cultural giants, and learn about the delicate renaissance of Vienna’s Jewish community happening presently.
Our journey starts outside the Jewish City Temple, from where we zigzag through the second district towards the demolished Leopoldstädter Temple. Our voyage brings us to the Nestroyhof Theater, with its magnificent Art Nouveau facade that once housed Yiddish-speaking troupes, we pause to reflect upon the talented leaders in the fields of intellect, politics, and economy from within the Jewish community: individuals like Sigmund Freud, Theodor Herzl, Karl Krauss, Franz Werfel, and Gustav Mahler. Understanding the stories of the victims and survivors of Nazi atrocities, we pay visits to the ruins of Ashkenazi and Sephardic synagogues and the Judenplatz Holocaust monument.
- Your tour guides are professors, doctoral students, historians, journalists, art critics, and published author
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
