The Rue Pavée Synagogue

Here is a striking synagogue designed by the French architect Hector Guimard, a pioneer of Art Nouveau best known for designing the entrances to the Paris Métro. Those Métro entrances are among his signature works and a fine example of the style: they avoid historical forms, draw their motifs from nature, and favor naturalism and organic shapes over mechanical rigidity.

The Synagogue de la rue Pavée, at 10 Rue Pavée in the Marais, was completed in 1914 and is an Art Nouveau work by Guimard. It has since been fully restored, but it was one of seven synagogues bombed in Nazi-occupied Paris on Yom Kippur in 1941.