The ceremony took place during a one-day visit to Arkhangelsk by Russia’s leading Rabbi Berl Lazar, Belomorkanal.ru reports. The synagogue, which has a price tag of 60 million RUB, will be located in the city centre and serve the regional Jewish community of about 550 members. The construction of the building is estimated to take two years. Before the 1917 revolution, there were several synagogues in Arkhangelsk, but they were all destroyed in the Soviet period.