The magnificent Grand Choral Synagogue (which is today it is the second largest Synagogue in Europe) was designed Lev Bakhman and Ivan Shaposhnikov in Arabic-Moresque style. The construction started with the purchase of land in 1878 for a sum of 65,000 rubles; the opening ceremony happened on the December 8, 1893. In the ornament of the outer grill main gate the motifs of the medieval book DEOR are used. The architect chose a geometrical ornament, which had been used in decorating the famous codex from the Imperial Public Library collection – the oldest dated Penateuch in the world dated 929 (known today as the first Petersburg Pentateuch), the large Hall has a capacity of 1,230 sears, of which 734 are for men and 496 for women. Today Grand Choral Synagogue is not only a magnificent monument of architecture, but a “pulsing heart“ of the Jewish community in the city.