At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Jewish community in St. Petersburg grew significantly, and it was necessary to build a temple that could fully satisfy the religious needs of ten thousand people. The whole community collected money for the construction, but the main financier was Baron Ginsburg, the head of the Jewish community of those times. Nikolai Benois himself participated in the design of the architectural project. The building is made in the neo-Moorish style, quite rare for St. Petersburg.

The construction was completed in 1893. However, the Soviet government kept the community under strict control. First, all the chapels in the city were closed, and in 1930, according to the decision of the Presidium of the Leningrad City Council, the Great Synagogue was closed. After seven months, the ban was lifted, and the temple began to function again.

Before the 1980 Olympic Games, the Great Choral Synagogue was included in the list of major sightseeing sites, for this purpose, two years before the start of the Games, the government allocated funds for the restoration of the building.

A number of cultural and educational events are held on the basis of the Synagogue, which you can read more about on the official website. Representatives of other faiths are not prohibited from entering, but it is worth familiarizing yourself with the rules of conduct on the temple grounds.