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Touro Synagogue

Religious and Sacred Buildings

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Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, is a Georgian colonial building completed in 1763 to the design of architect Peter Harrison, an English-born architect who settled in Rhode Island. Its interior is supported by twelve Ionic columns holding up the women balcony, read as a reference to the twelve tribes of ancient Israel. It is the oldest synagogue building still standing in the United States, designated a National Historic Site in 1946 and closely associated with Rhode Island founding commitment to religious tolerance.

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