Mount Olivet Baptist Church

Central Harlem

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There are many large churches in Harlem and several of them were originally synagogues, built about a century ago when German Jewish families moved to Harlem. Mount Olivet Baptist Church at 120th and Lenox was originally Temple Israel. The synagogue was built in 1907 and was once one of the city's most prestigious synagogues. Mount Olivet, an old and influential black congregation in New York, acquired the building in 1925 when that congretation moved uptown to Harlem from mid-Manhattan. You can see the Stars of David at the top of the four enormous columns and in the stained glass windows.

A prominent congregation in Central Harlem, Mount Olivet has attracted speakers ranging from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to 2004's Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean and Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe.

Sites & Attractions: Churches Sites & Attractions Central Harlem