The modern Kharkiv Karaite Synagogue (Kenassa) is one of the main architectural attractions of Kharkiv Podil.

It was built in 1893 for the local Karaite community. The architect of the project was Boris Pokrovsky.

However, it was not the first kenassa of the Kharkiv Karaites, as their house of prayer had been established as early as 1853 on Podolsky Lane in the Izmailovs’ house and was officially recognized by the authorities in 1873. Most of the funds for the new kenassa were donated by merchant Mark Kalf. Among the well-known representatives of the Karaite diaspora, it is also worth mentioning cigarette magnate S. Gabay, who owned a cigarette paper factory on the corner of what is now Constitution Square and Soborny Lane (on the site of the City Council building).

In the late 1920s, the kenesa was converted into the “Militant Atheist” club; the prayer hall was divided into two floors by partitions, and additional windows were cut into the walls. The Tablets of the Covenant on the pediments were also lost.

Later, the building housed a transportation company.

The Karaite community in Kharkiv, which numbered only 30 families in 2003, did not have its kenassa restored until 2006; it remains the only active Karaite kenassa in Ukraine outside of Crimea (prior to 1917, there were 10 such kenassas in mainland Ukraine). Currently, there are 50 Karaites living in the Kharkiv region.

The Karaite Kenassa was damaged by shelling from Russian forces on March 31, 2022.