The gable above the second floor provides the final vertical accent. The wide central staircase of three flights, adorned with a simple balustrade and two lampposts, adds to the overall impression of the building’s dignified and ceremonial character. In terms of layout and style, the staircase is a reference to French neoclassicism, i.e. to the northern façade of the Petit Trianon at Versailles. The architectural and aesthetic articulation of elevations gives precedence to the front façade, which is harmonious and well-balanced. The decorative accent is on the gable, which features David’s star enclosed in an oculus. Verticality is accentuated by the tall round-arched windows in the zone of the ritual space of the synagogue, and by the projecting tower-topped end bays that flank the central portion of the façade. The prayer hall is the central and essential part of the synagogue. The elongated hekhal of the Sukat Shalom synagogue, encompassing the ground-floor and gallery levels, is orientated east to west and divided with two rows of eight-sided columns with ornamented capitals. The columns support the gallery, thus combining aesthetic, symbolic and structural functions. The coffered ceiling is decorated with a floral border. The holiest and most ornate element is the aron hakodesh against the east wall of the temple, which enshrines the Ashkenazi and Sephardic. Torah scrolls and Hebrew Scriptures. It is flanked by two columns which differ from those in the hekhal only in being circular-sectioned. They carry a large marble cube which symbolises the Ark of the Covenant containing the Decalogue. These decorative architectural elements date from the period of post-World War II reconstruction of the desecrated and despoiled interior. In terms of disposition, the synagogue is a free-standing building in the rear of the lot, and therefore not fully visually graspable from the street. This disposition was determined primarily by the historic urban matrix of the district, characterised by an irregular street pattern and elongated lots. The "Sukkat Shalom" synagogue has been declared a cultural monument in April 2013. Jews in Belgrade The first written records of the presence of Jews in Belgrade date back to the 16th century when the city was under Ottoman rule. At that time Belgrade boasted a strong Jewish Ladino-speaking Sephardic community mostly settled in the central Belgrade neighborhood called Dorćol. The city's Ashkenazi Jews, many of them from Central Europe and nearby Austria-Hungary, mostly lived near the Sava river in the