‘I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work on the development of a Reform Synagogue in Munich,’ Libeskind said.

New York-based star architect Daniel Libeskind has announced he will design a new synagogue in Munich, Germany, for the city’s liberal Jewish community.

On the back of the success of Daniel Libeskind’s Jewish Museum in Berlin, the architect has been appointed to a new synagogue for the Beth Shalom (‘House of Peace’) community in Munich. Beth Shalom is a member of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, which says is largest Jewish religious organisation in the world with 1.5 million members in some 40 countries.

‘A project with such exciting aspirations and profound beliefs is one I whole-heartedly support.’

The project for the Beth Shalom for the city’s liberal Jewish population is still in the preliminary stage– the community is searching for donations and Libeskind will not present plans until spring of 2009. But Munich Jewish leaders said that it could be built on the site of the city’s first synagogue on Westenriederstrasse, which was destroyed by Nazis in 1938 in the Kristallnacht pogrom, or the Night of Broken Glass.

Libeskind, who is of Polish-Jewish descent, has completed three European Jewish museums in Berlin, Osnabrück, and Copenhagen. While each of these was ‘(…)built in the shadows of the darkness of the Holocaust,’ Libeskind said that he tried to use light to convey a sense of hope for ‘humanity’s light’ to shine through.

In the last several years, Germany has experienced a revival of Jewish culture with new synagogues, community centres and museums opening across the country. According to the German Jewish Council, some 250,000 Jews live in the country, 104,000 of whom are registered religious community members.

The expected data for completion is 2018. The studio is enjoying a 20-plus year history of engaging audiences and artists in exploring contemporary perspectives on Jewish culture, history, art and ideas. Its Contemporary Jewish Museum, which opened in California in June 2008, is 63,000-square-foot facility that enables the Museum to present an expanded array of engaging programming including art exhibitions, live music, film screenings, lectures and discussions, and educational activities for audiences of all ages and backgrounds.