 Over ten years were spent raising funds as the building slowly took shape.There is a legend, proven by researcher Tamar Hayardeni to be non-factual and to have emerged a good 30 years after the end of the synagogue's construction, that in November 1869 Franz Joseph, en route to the inauguration of the Suez Canal, made a visit to Jerusalem.Included in his itinerary was a tour of the Jewish institutions of the city.