On Keizerstraat, a few blocks from the cathedral, a white wooden synagogue with a classical portico stands directly beside a large mosque with four minarets. They share a boundary and, as locals like to point out, a car park on each other’s holy days. No other image says as much about how Paramaribo understands itself.
The pairing is not a monument designed to make a point. Both congregations simply built where their communities were, a century and a half apart, and have been good neighbours since.
Top things to do: Keizerstraat Mosque & Synagogue
Neveh Shalom synagogue
Jews, many of Portuguese-Sephardi origin, were among the earliest planters in Suriname, and the settlement of Jodensavanne upriver was once one of the most important Jewish communities in the Americas. The present Neveh Shalom building dates from the 1830s. Inside, the floor is covered with fine sand — a tradition explained both as a memory of the desert wandering and of the days when prayers in Iberia had to be muffled. The grounds hold old gravestones and a small display on the community’s history.
The Keizerstraat mosque
The mosque next door is the headquarters of the Surinaamse Islamitische Vereniging, a community rooted in the Hindustani Muslim population that arrived as contract labourers from British India. A wooden mosque stood here from the 1930s; the present building with its domes and minarets was completed in 1984.
A wider circle of faiths
To complete the picture, the ornate Arya Dewaker Hindu temple is a short taxi ride away on Johan Adolf Pengelstraat, and the Catholic cathedral and the Reformed Centrumkerk are a few minutes’ walk east.
Take the photograph
The classic view is from the opposite pavement of Keizerstraat, slightly to the west, where both buildings fit in one frame. Morning light is best.
How to get to Keizerstraat Mosque & Synagogue
- Keizerstraat runs west from the centre; the two buildings are about ten minutes’ walk from Independence Square and five from the cathedral.
- It is an easy stop on any walk through the historic inner city.
- A taxi from the riverside hotels takes a few minutes.
Insider tips
- Both are active places of worship. The exteriors can be admired at any time; going inside depends on the day and on someone being there to receive you.
- Synagogue visits are usually possible only at set times or by arrangement — a guided city tour is the simplest way in.
- At the mosque, avoid prayer times, especially Friday midday; remove your shoes, and cover shoulders, legs and (for women) hair.
- Ask before photographing people.
Tours: Keizerstraat Mosque & Synagogue
GetYourGuide lists only a handful of Suriname tours. These are the real, bookable ones most relevant to Keizerstraat Mosque & Synagogue:
Private tour from €799 per group Paramaribo: Heritage & Landmarks Private Guided Walking Tour
The one dedicated city tour of Paramaribo on GetYourGuide: a private five-hour walk through the UNESCO-listed inner city with a local guide, taking in Fort Zeelandia, the Palm Garden, the markets and the Waterkant, with a meal along the way. It is priced per private group of up to three, so it works best when you can share the cost.
- Fort Zeelandia, the Palmentuin and the riverside
- Markets and colonial landmarks with a local guide
- Private group, meal included
Workshop from €55 Paramaribo: Hands-on Aromatherapy Candle Making Workshop
A gentle ninety-minute workshop in the city in which you pour and scent your own candle to take home. It has nothing to do with sightseeing, which is exactly the point: a good filler for a rainy afternoon or the hot middle of the day.
- Make your own Suriname-inspired candle
- Small group in a tropical setting
- A souvenir you take home the same day
