It was built between 1590 and 1592 by the Jewish City's headman Mordechai Maisel, who financed the extensive Renassance-style rebuilding of the ghetto. The synagogue was built under the direction of Josef Wahl and Judah Goldschmid de Hertz. The original building was badly damaged in a fire in 1689, after which it was rebuilt in the Baroque style. After rebuilding in the Neo-Gothic style according to the project of A. Grotta in 1893-1905, the synagogue lost much of its Baroque features. From the original Renaissance disposition the three-nave layout of the main nave and the added women's galleries were preserved.
Currently, the Maizelova Synagogue serves as an exhibition space and storage facility for the Jewish Museum. The first part of the exhibition History of Jews in Bohemia and Moravia from settlement to the beginning of emancipation illustrates the course of Jewish history in the Czech lands from the tenth century to the end of the eighteenth century. The introductory part introduces the historical background of Jewish settlement in Bohemia and Moravia. As well as the legal and social position of the Jews in the medieval state. Particular attention is paid to the Renaissance period, associated both with the construction of synagogues and the name of their founder, Mordykhai Maysl. Traditional Jewish enlightenment is represented by the works of prominent scholars who held the positions of rabbis and rectors of Talmudic schools in Czech and Moravian Jewish communities (Rabbi Liva, David Oppenheim).
