Construction work on this went on from 1926 until its completion in 1930. The architect was Rudolf Lubinski from Zagreb.

The temple has an elliptic dome made of reinforced concrete, with a length of 30.8 meters and a width of 22.3 meters. The north side of the façade next to the street of “Branilaca Sarajeva” is in a pseudo-Moorish style with three sections.

The middle is the higher one, with the ones on either side somewhat lower. Through the barrel-shaped arched entrance, 9 meters wide, one can enter spacious atrium surrounded by horseshoe shaped arcades. There is a similar but open atrium on the opposite (south) side, with a similar façade.

Temple, Large Sephardic Temple, present day Bosnian Cultural Center

On the north side, the door on the left side (which today leads into the Institute for Development Planning of the Sarajevo Canton) was the entrance to the so-called “daily” synagogue were the premises of the Jewish community center. From the atrium, there was an entrance into the rectangular courtyard of the temple, and from their woman could use the stairs to reach the gallery (emporia), and men could enter the ground floor, which has 700 seats.

The interior arch was supported with several double columns with square capitals, and the round gallery was situated on the large pillars.

The shrine was mad in a marble mosaic, and the whole space has a beautiful polychromatic décor and is brightly illuminated through numerous windows. On the ground floor of the temple, there were located the rooms of the treasury, the Rabbi’s rooms, a wedding hall and changing rooms, and on the first and second floors were situated the library, the archives, a conference room, various apartments, etc.

During the World War II this temple was completely ravaged; the copper cover of the elliptic dome was removed, and Sarajevo Jews were decimated. This temple was granted, subsequently by those who survived, as a symbol of their gratitude, to the new government for the general use of the citizens of Sarajevo.

Temple (Large Sephardic temple)

With the reconstruction of the temple which occurred in 1965, it was transformed into the “Djuro Djaković” Workers University, but this reconstruction guided by government officials effectively completely destroyed it. The then-young and now reputable academician, the architect Ivan Straus, was not able to do anything to change this.

Even today there is no initiative to try to return the past glory to this temple, nor are there any significant cultural events performed there, although this temple carries the name of “Bosnian Cultural Center”.

The reconstruction of a tall building on the west side of it has cut off this temple, making its external architectural value completely concealed.