The mayor of Cape Town, Hyman Lieberman, opens the Great Synagogue in the Gardens, Cape Town

Cape Town has a substantial Jewish community, the majority of who are descendents of Lithuanian immigrants. By 1863, the Jewish congregation in Cape Town had grown to such an extent that a new building was needed. The original synagogue, or shul, was built in what is now the Jewish Museum complex. In 1905, the congregation had increased to the extent that a still larger building was needed, and so the Great Synagogue or Gardens Schul was built alongside the Old Schul, and opened by Cape Town's first Jewish mayor, Hyman Lieberman. Today, the Gardens Schul is the oldest active congregation in South Africa, and is designed in an 'Egyptian revival style'.