The Great Synagogue

Quick change of denomination.  The entrance to this on Lermontovskiy Prospect was rather forbidding – security cameras, guards – so in the foyer, noticing two people, I said I was a tourist from England and asked if I could see the Prayer Hall.  One of them – a man – ushered me in, telling me to take a photograph, to take a photograph of the bimah, that he would take a photograph of me.  He then escorted me personally to the gift shop, which turned out to sell Jewish matrioshkas and marshmallow fluff.  It was a very warm welcome indeed.