Reserve currency before the beginning of the worldwide credit crunch related recession and Eurozone crisis, which harmed the euro and slowed its adoption. Since 2009, the reserve currency use of the euro has continued to drop, down to 23.9 percent in 2013. The Dutch guilder was the "de facto" reserve currency in Europe in 17th and 18th centuries. The United Kingdom's pound sterling was the primary reserve currency of much of the world in the 19th century and first half of the 20th century. The emergence of the USA as an economic superpower, and the establishment of the U.S. Federal Reserve System
Oldest synagogues in the United Kingdom synagogue buildings exist, but were sold by the congregation and are now used for other purposes, some as churches or mosques, others for everything from residences to school recital halls. And some very old synagogues have been in continuous use as synagogues for many centuries. The Merthyr Synagogue (1872) in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, is thought to be the oldest purpose-built synagogue still standing in Wales. Oldest synagogues in the United Kingdom The designation oldest synagogue in the United Kingdom requires careful definition. A number of synagogues that predate the expulsion of the Jews from England have been discovered by archaeologists