The government ordered the demolition of the entire Jewish community compound, including the synagogue, in accordance with city center regeneration plans, specifically the construction of the Palace of Nations surrounded by extensive landscaped grounds. At the time demolition began, the synagogue was a functioning house of worship serving Dushanbe's small Jewish community (150 to 350 Jews). This was the last remaining synagogue in Tajikistan. While the government argued that the building was of no historical significance and could be demolished in accordance with city planning needs, the Jewish community stated that, as the last remaining Jewish house of prayer in a country that had been a home to Jews for at least two thousand years, the building was of considerable historical significance. The ownership of the building was also disputed. The Jewish community reported that it had documentation of its original (pre-Soviet) ownership of the building and the purchase of the land on which the synagogue had been constructed. The Dushanbe municipal authorities argued, on the other hand, that the state owned the land and the building since it underwent nationalisation in 1952 by the Soviet authorities.