Five matters occurred to our forefathers on the seventeenth of Tammuz, and five on the Ninth of Av. On the seventeenth of Tammuz the tablets were broken the daily offering was nullified; the city walls of Jerusalem were breached; Apostemos burned a Torah scroll; and an idol was placed in the Sanctuary. On the Ninth of Av it was decreed upon our ancestors that they would and not enter Eretz Yisrael; and the Temple was destroyed the first time, and the second time, and Beitar was captured; and the city of Jerusalem was plowed. From when Av begins, one decreases rejoicing.
מִי שֶׁלֹּא רָאָה יְרוּשָׁלַיִם בְּתִפְאַרְתָּהּ — לֹא רָאָה כְּרַךְ נֶחְמָד מֵעוֹלָם. מִי שֶׁלֹּא רָאָה בֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ בְּבִנְיָנוֹ — לֹא רָאָה בִּנְיָן מְפוֹאָר מֵעוֹלָם.
...One who did not see Jerusalem in its glory, never saw a beautiful city. One who did not see the Temple in its constructed state, never saw a magnificent structure.
בְּמַאי בַּנְיֵהּ? אָמַר (רָבָא): בְּאַבְנֵי שֵׁישָׁא וּמַרְמְרָא. אִיכָּא דְּאָמְרִי: בְּאַבְנֵי שֵׁישָׁא כּוּחְלָא וּמַרְמְרָא... סְבַר לְמִשְׁעֲיֵיהּ בְּדַהֲבָא, אֲמַרוּ לֵיהּ רַבָּנַן: שִׁבְקֵיהּ, דְּהָכִי שַׁפִּיר טְפֵי, דְּמִיתְחֲזֵי כְּאִדְוָתָא דְיַמָּא.
With what did [King Herod] construct it? Rava said: With stones of green-gray marble and white marble. Some say: with stones of blue marble and white marble....He thought to plate the Temple with gold, but the Sages said to him: Leave it, as it is better this way -- it has the appearance of waves of the sea.
תַּנְיָא, רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר: מִי שֶׁלֹּא רָאָה דְּיוֹפְּלוּסְטוֹן שֶׁל אֲלֶכְּסַנְדְּרִיָּא שֶׁל מִצְרַיִם, לֹא רָאָה בִּכְבוֹדָן שֶׁל יִשְׂרָאֵל. אָמְרוּ: כְּמִין בָּסִילְקֵי גְּדוֹלָה הָיְתָה, סְטָיו לְפָנִים מִסְּטָיו. פְּעָמִים שֶׁהָיוּ בָּהּ (שִׁשִּׁים רִבּוֹא עַל שִׁשִּׁים רִבּוֹא), כִּפְלַיִם כְּיוֹצְאֵי מִצְרַיִם. וְהָיוּ בָּהּ שִׁבְעִים וְאַחַת קָתֶדְרָאוֹת שֶׁל זָהָב, כְּנֶגֶד שִׁבְעִים וְאַחַת שֶׁל סַנְהֶדְרִי גְּדוֹלָה, כׇּל אַחַת וְאַחַת אֵינָהּ פְּחוּתָה מֵעֶשְׂרִים וְאֶחָד רִבּוֹא כִּכְּרֵי זָהָב. וּבִימָה שֶׁל עֵץ בְּאֶמְצָעִיתָהּ, וְחַזַּן הַכְּנֶסֶת עוֹמֵד עָלֶיהָ וְהַסּוּדָרִין בְּיָדוֹ. וְכֵיוָן שֶׁהִגִּיעַ לַעֲנוֹת אָמֵן, הַלָּה מֵנִיף בַּסּוּדָר וְכׇל הָעָם עוֹנִין אָמֵן.
It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Yehuda says: One who did not see the great synagogue of Alexandria of Egypt never saw the glory of Israel. They said was like a large basilica, a colonnade within a colonnade. At times there were six hundred thousand and another six hundred thousand in it, twice the number of those who left Egypt. In it there were seventy-one golden chairs corresponding to the seventy-one members of the Great Sanhedrin, each of which consisted of no less than twenty-one thousand talents of gold. And there was a wooden platform at the center. The sexton of the synagogue would stand on it, with the scarves in his hand. And when the prayer leader reached the conclusion of a blessing requiring the people to answer amen, the sexton waved the scarf and all the people would answer amen.
Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: One may only pray in a house with windows, as it is stated “In his attic there were open windows facing Jerusalem” (Daniel 6:11).
צריך לפתוח פתחים או חלונו' כנגד ירושלים כדי להתפלל כנגדן וטוב שיהיו בב"ה י"ב חלונות:
It is necessary to open openings or windows in facing Jerusalem, so as to pray opposite them. And it is recommended for a synagogue to have twelve windows.