Great Synagogue (Berestetschko)

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Synagogue building 1990
Synagogue building 2015

The construction of the Great Synagogue in Berestechko in the Ukrainian Oblast of Volyn began in 1827. For many years there was no progress, so the building was not completed until 1885.

history

During the German occupation in World War II , the Jewish population was murdered. The building was damaged and the interior was destroyed.

After the war, the synagogue was converted into a sausage factory. Only the core of the main hall was preserved; all additions and the four pillars in the middle were torn down. A second floor was drawn in, and both floors were given corridors and rooms. Another row of rectangular windows was broken through the wall below the windows. A new entrance was added in the southeast at the point where the Torah shrine was.

The factory was later abandoned and the building was near ruin in 1990. In 1992 it was renovated and converted into a music school. It is a protected structure.

architecture

There are no photos of the original external appearance, only drawings by the architect Konstantin Rasturchanow, who also designed many buildings of the Russian Orthodox Church .

The main hall had four massive, rectangular pillars in the middle, dividing the ceiling into nine equally sized fields; a stylistic element of many synagogues in Galicia and Volhynia . The eight outer fields had a cross vault and the inside was in the shape of a dome. The octagonal bima with a cast iron railing was located between the pillars in the middle of the main hall .

The synagogue was not oriented strictly east-west; the entrance was in the northwest and the wall with the Torah shrine in the southeast. The vestibule was two-story. The main hall and vestibule had a hipped roof . There were also two single-storey extensions to the vestibule.

The back wall and the side walls were divided into three equally sized fields by pilasters ; in each of these fields there was an arched window at a greater height .

The two-story Torah shrine was in the middle of the southeast wall. It was intricately carved from wood and multicolored. The Torah scrolls were housed in the lower part. In the upper part were the tablets of the law and above them blessing hands. The whole thing was completed by an ornamental summit.

See also

Source

  1. ↑ Sergey R. Kravtsov, Vladimir Levin. Synagogues in Ukraine VOLHYNIA Vol. 1. Pages 177 ff. The Center Of Jewish Art. ISBN 978-965-227-342-0 . All information about the synagogue

Web links

Commons : Synagogue (Berestetschko)  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 21 ′ 31 ″  N , 25 ° 7 ′ 18 ″  E