The synagogue was built in Bordeaux in the second half of the XIX century - the works were carried out from 1877 till 1882. During the Second World War it was desecrated, half destroyed and plundered by the Nazis. Ten years after the war, the synagogue was reconstructed, and in 1998 it recognized the historical monument.

The first mention of Jews living in Bordeaux, belong to the second half of the VI century. At the beginning of the XIX century, the city had nine synagogues, which were located in private homes. Here's what he wrote about the Jews of Bordeaux historian Samuel Lozinski "People had not dared in his homeland to profess the Jewish religion, came here to join the fold of Judaism ... People apparently sought to Bordeaux to be buried according to Jewish rites in the Jewish cemetery . But Bordeaux ... could not turn to prayer, a home for the elderly, and the Bordeaux Jews showed intense activity in it. "

The authors of the project a large synagogue were two famous Frenchman Paul Abadie, author and restorer of many religious buildings in France, and Charles Durand, artist, author of the ceiling painting of the Louvre. In their project it was built to replace the synagogue burned down in a fire in 1873. In the guise of the new building could be seen features oriental style and Gothic Revival. At the end of the XIX century synagogue in Bordeaux it is considered the largest of the European synagogues. When its construction was used a metal frame, designed and manufactured in the workshop of another famous architect - Gustave Eiffel.

During the Second World War, the Germans turned the synagogue into prison, from which the Jews were sent to concentration camps, including Dachau and Auschwitz. This tragic fate befell more than a thousand Jewish families. In memory of those terrible events near the synagogue it has a memorial plaque.

Today, the synagogue is used for its intended purpose - it carried out the service. Visitors of the synagogue are Jews who emigrated from North Africa.