Almost all major German cities have their respective museums exploring local Jewish history, but few are as subtle and quiet as the one in Munich, and it is arguably all the more powerful because of it. In Sankt-Jakobs-Platz, the stern grey cube levitating over a glass lobby is itself a solemn reflection on the lives lost during the Holocaust, and the synagogue next door, a modern variation built on the ruins of a destroyed one, provides another beautiful example of the possibilities of contemplative architecture.