A groundbreaking ceremony attended by Russian, Israeli and U.S. officials marked the start of a construction project designed to raise a landmark Moscow synagogue from ashes, a spokesman said Wednesday.


Mayor Yury Luzhkov promised financial assistance to rebuild the synagogue, which will form the core of a Jewish cultural center in the Maryina Roshcha neighborhood, said Vladimir Motelevich of the Lubavitcher Hasidic movement in Moscow.


The Maryina Roshcha synagogue was gutted by fire in late December 1993. Fire investigators did not determine the cause of the fire, which at the time was believed to be caused by faulty wiring. Arson was not fully excluded either.


U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering, who attended Tuesday's groundbreaking ceremony along with Israel's chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yisrael Lau, said the project marked a triumph for many generations of Russian Jews.


The collapse of the Soviet Union has eliminated its tacit suppression of Jewish cultural and religious life. Russia's 2.5 million Jews have reopened synagogues, camps, schools and even a kosher shop in Moscow, and most legal obstacles to emigration have been removed.


Yet, hard-line demonstrators and some Russian Orthodox church officials often blame Jews for economic and political chaos and other misfortunes that befell Russia.


What remains of the two-story wooden synagogue in Maryina Roshcha, built in 1926, will be pulled down to make room for the new synagogue, Motelevich said. The old structure was the only synagogue built in the Soviet Union.


He said the new synagogue and cultural center will be a "majestic" three-story brick building.


To ensure continuity of worship during the construction, the Lubavitcher community will build a temporary synagogue close to the site, Motelevich said.


No price tag has yet been put on the ambitious project for the new synagogue, which is expected to draw investments from Jewish communities in Israel, the United States and Argentina, he said.