The Jewish community of Moscow hired the architect Semeon Eibuschitz in 1881 to design the Choral Synagogue. His second draft was approved in July 1886, and construction began on May 28, 1887. It stands one block east of the Kitai-gorod walls, because the city banned synagogues inside them. Eibuschitz died in 1898, and Roman Klein was hired to finish the building.
In 1888 the city ordered the removal of the completed dome and the exterior image of the Torah scrolls. In 1892 the authorities banned construction again and required the owners to sell the unfinished building or convert it to a charity. The article does not say whether the dome was rebuilt.
The bans were lifted after the revolution of 1905, and the synagogue was consecrated in 1906. It operated throughout the Soviet period and is an active Orthodox congregation.
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