The Old Synagogue

the oldest preserved synagogue in Poland

The Old Synagogue in Cracow is located in Kazimierz district, 24 Szeroka Street. It is the oldest preserved synagogue in Poland, as well as one of the most valuable monuments of Jewish sacral architecture in Europe.

History

The synagogue was probably built in the 2nd half of the 15th century by Czech Jews who arrived in Cracow in 1389 after the so-called massacre in Prague. Currently two dates of construction can be found - 1407 or 1492. Initially it was a brick and stone, high, two-nave hall designed only for men. It was incorporated into the system of municipal fortifications owing to the adherence of its eastern wall to defensive walls. A legend is connected with the construction of the synagogue, saying that the Jews from Kazimierz received permission for its construction from king Kazimierz Wielki. The king also gave two silver swords which were supposed to be melted down to candlesticks. However, as an expression of esteem for the ruler, the Jews hanged them in the vestibule of the synagogue.

The synagogue was one of four medieval typically Gothic two-nave synagogues in Europe. The other were in Wormatia, Ravensburg and Prague, and the trail running via these cities was one of the main routes of Jews' migrations.

In the second half of the 16th century it was enlarged by single-storied annexes functioning as the vestibule, the seat of commune authorities and women's gallery. In this way the synagogue became the centre of religious life of Jews from Cracow. However, it was completely destroyed in 1557 as a result of a great fire.

The reconstructed synagogue was designed by Florentine architect Mateo Gucci. He preserved the two-nave design of the building and reconstructed its cross and a ribbed vault. From the original building, only the walls of the main room, the women's gallery and the vestibule had been preserved. The synagogue was given the Renaissance character, the walls were heightened and it was crowned with an arcade attic shading the roof. The works were finished in 1570, and this is described on the inscription by Gucci visible until 1942 on the vault. Fires afflicted the synagogue a few times more, the last one in 1773.

At that place the address calling Jews to fight for the freedom of the common homeland was delivered by Tadeusz Kosciuszko in 1794. A patriotic speech was also delivered in 1846 by Maurycy Krzepicki, a participant of the Cracovian insurrection, Jewish activist, and for the Spring of Nations, called in 1848 rabbi Dow Beer Meisels.

In 1886 a thorough redecoration of the synagogue was conducted and new painting decorations were made. The old seat of commune authorities was pulled down, in 1891 the western facade was modernized. Subsequent works were made in 1904, 1913 and 1923. The synagogue gained a new shape, also a considerable improvement in its technical and functional condition, several details of the Neo-Renaissance nature were added. The north-western annex was heightened to the level of the second floor, and the area around the synagogue was lowered to the condition from before the 16th century and enclosed with wrought fencing. In the newly created rooms a small museum was organized.

Until 1939 it played the role of the central synagogue, the major religious, social and organisational centre of the Jewish commune in Cracow. During World War II the synagogue was completely devastated by the Nazis. All the valuable wares collected for centuries (silverwares, tapestries, liturgical objects, archives, collections of the library) were brought out, and the residence of governor Hans Frank on Wawel was decorated with the candlesticks. The vault and columns were destroyed, and warehouses were arranged in the main room. At the walls of the synagogue 30 Poles were executed on 28 October 1943.

The reconstruction of the synagogue after the war was entirely financed by the Polish state. After 1956 the works were directed by architects Jozef Jamroz and Jozef Ptak. They restored the original Gothic and Renaissance appearance to the synagogue.

In 1958 the Congregation of Mosaic Denomination in Cracow solemnly gave the synagogue for museum purposes and presently the Judaic Museum is located here, a branch of the History Museum of the City of Cracow. In 1970 - 1972 the wide terraced stairs were built in place of the wall pulled down on the northern and western side of the synagogue. Every year, the main concert during the Festival of Jewish Culture takes place on the stairs.

An old tradition is connected with the Old Synagogue, being kind of similar to the tradition of the suddenly broken melody of St. Mary's bugle-call in Cracow. Natan Gros mentions it in his book "There was a house". On the last day of Sukkot - in Simchat Tora the Jews solemnly and joyfully celebrate the reading of the last chapter of the Bible and the beginning of reading it anew. "At the beginning the Lord created the sky and the earth" - they celebrate by dancing and singing, provided that traditionally all the prayers take part in a dancing walk around of the synagogue with the books of Torah in their hands. There are seven of these walkabouts - hakofoth. Only in the one and only synagogue in the world - in the Cracow Old Synagogue - in the middle of the fourth walkabout the wave of joy stops suddenly and the celebrants begin to read the Psalms. This was a tradition related to a tragic event, when long time ago the hordes of Tatars invaded the then synagogue exactly during the Festival of Shelters, in the middle of the fourth walkabout of the temple and killed the praying Jews.

The interior

Currently the synagogue is a Gothic and Renaissance rectangular, two-nave hall with the cross and a ribbed vault supported by two thin Tuscan columns. From the times of Gucci the main praying room, the vestibule and the gallery for women on the first-floor of the western wall have been preserved. The present condition of the synagogue is the effect of many reconstructions and redecorations conducted across the centuries. It has obtained the contemporary shape at the beginning of the 20th century and after the thorough renovation made in the years after the war. Onto the northern wall a single-storied annex was built, covered with triangular roofs, it was devoted to the women's gallery. It was connected with the main hall by four small grated windows. The whole roof is shaded by a high arcade attic divided by hemispheric niches and crowned with corner pinnacles. From the East one may see a reconstructed municipal defensive wall.

Entering the building we move through a Renaissance portal with the Hebrew text "This is the Gate of Jahwe, the just will enter through it" from the second half of the 16th century. In the vestibule, in the north-eastern corner, on a platform, there is a stone well for the "living water" for hand washing. Further there is a beautiful, Baroque, stone offering box from the first half of the 17th century. In the middle of the room on the brick platform the iron-forged bimah in the shape of a canopy, decorated with bronze spheres and gilded crown, was reconstructed.

In the middle of the eastern wall there is a stone, Late Renaissance Aron ha - kodesh with sculpted crown over the forged, decorated doors, crowned with the board with the Hebrew text from the Book of Proverbs "By my hand the kings exercise the rule". Beside, on the left, there is also a stone, oblong cabinet for ner tamid (the eternal light), and on the right the stand for the cantor. On the southern side there is a room, the so-called room of singers. On the walls the beautiful polychromies from the 17th century have been fragmentarily preserved, showing, among others, the traces of plant twine.

Before the synagogue there is a monument in the shape of a cuboid commemorating thirty Poles who were executed at the walls of the temple in 1943. In the women's gallery a commemorative plate was put, in Polish and Hebrew, commemorating the call for Jews to participate in the Insurrection of Tadeusz Kosciuszko.

Museum

Currently the synagogue houses a branch of the History Museum of the City of Cracow - History and Culture of Jews. Since 1958 it has gathered monuments related to the history and culture of Jews, first of all from Cracow. The collections have been donated by the Cultural and Social Association of Jews in Poland, the Jewish Denomination Commune in Cracow, the Ministry of Culture and Art, the Ministry of Religion of the State of Israel and numerous individuals. Here one may find the exhibition of the most valuable judaicas and a special section devoted to the martyrdom of Jews from Cracow during World War II. The Museum keeps a library with a rich book collection, conducts numerous lessons, lectures and workshops directly associated with the importance of the synagogue in the life of Jews.

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