Gustave de Rothschild funded the Grand Synagogue of Paris. The City of Paris offered the plot, and Emperor Napoleon III granted permission. Alfred-Philibert Aldrophe, who also designed the Versailles Synagogue, was the architect. Groundbreaking was in 1867, it was inaugurated in 1874, and it opened to the general public in 1875.
The style is Romanesque Revival with Byzantine Revival decorative elements. The nave is 92 feet (28 m) long, and the facade rises 118 feet (36 m). It holds 1,800 worshipers. Twelve stained-glass windows represent the Tribes of Israel, and a Hebrew inscription at the entrance draws on Genesis 28:17.
It has been the seat of the Chief Rabbi of Paris since 1874. It was classified a monument historique on July 8, 1993.
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