Old Synagogue, Pretoria

The Old Synagogue is a former synagogue and apartheid-era court on Paul Kruger Street in Pretoria. It was consecrated in 1898 and closed as a synagogue in 1952, when the congregation moved to a larger site. It was subsequently expropriated and sold to the State for use as a Special Annex of the Supreme Court of South Africa between 1956–1977. In this period, Nelson Mandela was a defendant at the court in both the 1956 and the Rivonia treason trials. In 1977, it was the setting for an inquest into the death of Steve Biko. It is now a Grade II Provincial Heritage Resource and protected under the National Heritage Resources Act (25 of 1999). The building and site remains under the control of the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure.