List of wooden synagogues

Poland-Lithuania 1619

The list of wooden synagogues shows destroyed and still existing synagogues, the builders of which adapted an architecture traditional in Central and Eastern Europe to the requirements of Jewish worship. All remaining large, representative wooden synagogues were destroyed in the Second World War. Today only a few simple wooden synagogues exist, most of them in Lithuania. Synagogues that no longer exist are recorded as far as they are more precisely known from drawings or photographs.

If years are given in italics, the values ​​are approximate.

The use of wood as a building material for synagogues was obvious in a wooded region; churches were also initially built as wooden structures. However, a synod in Piotrków in the 16th century demanded that synagogues always be made of wood, not stone, so that stone buildings for Jewish communities were only possible with special permission. Wooden synagogues remained the norm at a time when Christian churches were mostly built as stone structures. The political space in which wooden synagogues with typical construction features and decoration patterns developed was the aristocratic republic of Poland-Lithuania (1569–1795), in which the Jewish Council of the Four Lands existed (1580–1764).

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List of wooden synagogues, sorted by location

place	district	today's national territory	synagogue	construction time	destruction	particularities	image
Alanta	Utena	Lithuania	Synagogue (Alanta)	Mid 19th century		Rectangular floor plan, timber construction on quarry stone and cement base, two floors in the west. Anteroom with stove, from here stairs to the women's gallery, which has two windows to the men's prayer room. Hip-rafter roof covered with sheet metal. After 1945 granary.
Asjory	Hrodna	Belarus	Synagogue (Asjory)	late 18th century	before 1945
Bechhofen	Middle Franconia	Germany	Barn synagogue	1685	Destroyed in 1938 in the Night of the Pogroms	1732 splendid interior painting by Eliezer Sussmann from Galicia
Berezdivtsi	Lviv	Ukraine	Synagogue (Beresdiwzi)	late 18th century	before 1945	Square male bed room in block construction, closed off by a dome that transforms from a square into an octagon. Two-part mansard roof, closed on the narrow sides by a gable project, on the north side women's prayer room with a pent roof .
Bjarosa	Brest	Belarus	Synagogue (Bjarosa)		before 1945
Chodoriv	Lviv	Ukraine	Synagogue (Chodoriw)	1642	1941	The exterior was redesigned as a result of unskillful renovation in 1909/10. Rich paintings and interior decorations.
Chyriw	Lviv	Ukraine	Synagogue (Chyriw)	before 1740	before 1945	Male prayer room with barrel vault and cove on the fighter. The women's rooms on two floors above the western anteroom. Gable roof in east-west direction.
Cieszowa	Silesia	Poland	Synagogue (Cieszowa)	1741	1911	Simple wooden synagogue in the style of a farmhouse.
Davyd-Haradok	Brest	Belarus	Synagogue (Davyd-Haradok)		before 1945
Dolyna	Ternopil	Ukraine	Synagogue (Dolyna, Ternopil)	around 1700	before 1945	Wooden synagogue on a stone base.
Horochiw	Wolyn	Ukraine	Great Synagogue (Horochiw)		before 1945
Horodnja	Chernihiv	Ukraine	Synagogue (Horodnja)	1900
Hrodna	Hrodna	Belarus	Synagogue (Hrodna)	late 18th century	before 1945
Hwisdez	Ivano-Frankivsk	Ukraine	Synagogue (Hwisdez)	1640/52	before 1945	Earliest clearly legible year 1652, construction dependent on the synagogue in Chodoriw. The roof structure was damaged by the subsequent insertion of a dome in connection with the interior painting. The men’s bed room is almost square, with a vestibule to the west and the women’s bed room to the north. The vault was painted by Israel, the son of Mardochai Lissnitzki in the 17th century, and by Isak, the son of Jehuda Leb from Jaryczow.
Ivyanets	Minsk	Belarus	Synagogue (Ivyanets)
Jabluniw	Ivano-Frankivsk	Ukraine	Synagogue (Jabluniw)	17th century	before 1918	Rich painting of the interior (1674–1724).
Janów Sokólski	Podlaskie	Poland	Synagogue (Janów Sokólski)	Mid-18th century	before 1945
Yaryshiv	Vinnytsia	Ukraine	Synagogue (Yaryschiw)	early 18th century	before 1945
Jedwabne	Podlaskie	Poland	Old Synagogue (Jedwabne)	1770	1913	Roof construction similar to that of the Lutomiersk and Śniadowo synagogues.
Jurbarkas	Tauragė	Lithuania	Synagogue (Jurbarkas)	1780 late 18th century	1941 in World War II
Kamyanka buska	Lviv	Ukraine	Synagogue (Kamjanka-Buska)	1730 1st half of the 18th century; Bima dated to 1730.	1941 late 1941
Kaltinėnai	Tauragė	Lithuania	Synagogue (Kaltinėnai)	around 1938		Architect: Kazys Kralikas. Wooden synagogue with attached rabbi apartment. Used as a prayer house until 1941, after 1945 barn, vacant since 1990.
Kamenets	Brest	Belarus	Synagogue (Kamenez)	before 1800	before 1945
Końskie	Holy Cross	Poland	Synagogue (Końskie)	1780	1939
Kórnik	Greater Poland	Poland	Synagogue (Kórnik)	1767?	before 1945	Architect: Benyamin Hilel from Łask.
Korytnytsia	Wolyn	Ukraine	Synagogue (Korytnyzja)		before 1945
Kostroma	Kostroma	Russia	Synagogue (Kostroma)	1907		Used as a synagogue 1907–1930 and after restoration since 2001.
Kurkliai	Utena	Lithuania	Synagogue (Kurkliai)	1935		Architect: Povilas Jurėnas. Traditional synagogue architecture with expressionist elements. Hipped roof, covered with sheet metal; Tower above the main entrance with a separate roof and two stars of David as decoration. Prayer room in the southeast; Two-storey construction in the northwest with three rooms on the ground floor (anteroom to the men's bed room, staircase to the women's bed room and in between a heated room with a stove) and the women's gallery. Storage after 1945, vacant since 1990.
Laukuva	Tauragė	Lithuania	Synagogue (Laukuva)	1928		Reconstruction after 1945, vacant.
Ludza	Latgale	Latvia	Synagogue (Ludza)	1804		Baroque, timber construction clad with bricks in the early 20th century. Dome ceiling, painting. Restored in 2016.
Lunna	Hrodna	Belarus	Synagogue (Lunna)	around 1800	before 1945
Lutomiersk	Łódź	Poland	Synagogue (Lutomiersk)	Mid-18th century	before 1945	Significantly influenced by Central European church architecture.
Mahiljou	Mahiljou	Belarus	Synagogue (Mahiljou)	18th century	before 1945	Painting by Chaim ben Izchak Aisik Segal. Studies by El Lissitzky .
Maladsetschna	Minsk	Belarus	Synagogue (Maladsetschna)		before 1945
Mszislau	Mahiljou	Belarus	Synagogue (Mszislau)	1636	before 1945
Mychajliwka	Khmelnytskyi	Ukraine	Synagogue (Mychajliwka)	Mid-18th century	before 1945	For Podolien (two-storey) typical wooden synagogue with the main building on an almost square floor plan with extensions to the west and the north (story).
Mynkiwzi	Khmelnytskyi	Ukraine	Synagogue (Mynkiwzi)	1787 in the second half of the 18th century	Demolished in 1941 during World War II
Naroulja	Homel	Belarus	Synagogue (Naroulja)	1750 in the 18th century.	1918 Last photo from 1916.	Imposing, three-story, curved main roof, side pavilions with galleries and tent roofs.
Nasielsk	Mazovia	Poland	Synagogue (Nasielsk)	1700 late 17th or first half of the 18th century.	Demolished in 1880 due to dilapidation.	The layout is the same as that of the Wołpa synagogue.
Nyasvish	Minsk	Belarus	Old Synagogue (Nyasvish)		before 1945
Nowe Miasto nad Pilicą	Mazovia	Poland	Synagogue (Nowe Miasto nad Pilicą)	1785	before 1945
Olyka	Wolyn	Ukraine	Great Synagogue (Olyka)	1879	1942	Destroyed after the ghetto was dissolved (1942).
Orynyn	Khmelnytskyi	Ukraine	Synagogue (Orynyn)		before 1945
Owlutsch	Zhytomyr	Ukraine	Synagogue (Owrutsch)		before 1945
Pakruojis	Šiauliai	Lithuania	Synagogue (Pakruojis)	1801		Early classical timber construction with a mansard roof. Anteroom with winter synagogue in the north-west, above, slightly protruding and supported by two wooden Doric columns, the women's gallery. Barrel vault, painting around 1895.
Peski	Hrodna	Belarus	Synagogue (Peski)	1775 in the second half of the 18th century.	1941 in World War II
Pechenishyn	Ivano-Frankivsk	Ukraine	Synagogue (Pechenishyn)	before 1795	before 1945	Original floor plan obscured by renovations.
Pilica	Silesia	Poland	Synagogue (Pilica)	1747	before 1945	Interior painting from 1816.
Plungė	Telšiai	Lithuania	Prayer House (Plungė)	1931		Prayer house of the Chewra Kadisha . The original structure is well preserved. Wooden house on an almost square floor plan with a tin-covered, red-painted tent roof. There is no dream of a woman. Used as a school building after 1945, has since been returned to the Jewish community.
Pohrebyschtsche	Vinnytsia	Ukraine	Synagogue (Pohrebyschtsche)	1690	1941 Destroyed during World War II.	Even older synagogue destroyed in Cossack uprisings.
Poliske	Kiev	Ukraine	Synagogue (Chabne)		before 1945
Połaniec	Holy Cross	Poland	Synagogue (Połaniec)	Mid-18th century	before 1945	Interior painting from the time it was built.
Przedbórz	Łódź	Poland	Synagogue (Przedbórz)	Mid-18th century	1939	On the south side of the men's room, the women's room was built on. Originally arcades across the entire width of the building.
Puńsk	Podlaskie	Poland	Synagogue (Puńsk)	late 19th / early 20th century		After 1945 it was converted into a residential building.
Rēzekne	Latgale	Latvia	Synagogue (Rēzekne)	1845		Neoclassical. Restored in 2015.
Rosdil	Lviv	Ukraine	Synagogue (Rosdil)		before 1945
Rozalimas	Kaunas	Lithuania	Synagogue (Rozalimas)	late 19th century
Zhidnytsia	Lviv	Ukraine	synagogue	1900		Probably the only wooden synagogue that still exists in Ukraine today.
Zhydachiv	Lviv	Ukraine	Synagogue (Schydatschiw)	1742	before 1945	Square male bed room in block construction, closed off by a dome that transforms from a square into an octagon. Two-part mansard roof, closed on the narrow sides by a protrusion with a gable.
Seda	Telšiai	Lithuania	Synagogue (Seda)	early 19th century
Smotrych	Khmelnytskyi	Ukraine	Synagogue (Smotrych)	1745	before 1945	For Podolien typical wooden synagogue. Almost square main room with combined roof; galleries attached to the west and north.
Śniadowo	Podlaskie	Poland	Synagogue (Śniadowo)	1768	1914 Burned down by Russian soldiers during World War I.	One of the most magnificent wooden synagogues.
Suchowola	Podlaskie	Poland	Synagogue (Suchowola)	late 18th century	before 1945	Male bed room in block construction, vestibule and women's rooms as a stand construction. Porch emphasized by corner pavilions with a gable roof.
Talne	Cherkassy	Ukraine	Synagogue (Talne)		before 1945
Telšiai	Telšiai	Lithuania	Synagogue (Telšiai)	1873
Tirkšliai	Telšiai	Lithuania	Synagogue (Tirkšliai)	early 19th century
Tomsk	Tomsk	Russia	Soldiers Synagogue (Tomsk)	1907		Architect: Andrei Langer. Moorish style.
Torhovytsia	Rivne	Ukraine	Synagogue (Torhowyzja)	1820 at the beginning of the 19th century	1941	burned down in World War II
Trakai	Vilnius	Lithuania	Karaean Synagogue (Trakai)	18./19. Century
Chornobyl	Kiev	Ukraine	Synagogue (Tschornobyl)		before 1945
Usljany	Minsk	Belarus	Synagogue (Usljany)	early 18th century	before 1945	In the 1930s only male bed room, western vestibule and above it female gallery; earlier further extensions on the ground floor. Torah shrine (1761) by the art carver Ber (Minsk State Art Museum).
Valkininkai	Alytus	Lithuania	Synagogue (Valkininkai)	1775 in the 18th century	1941	destroyed by German troops in June 1941
Veisiejai	Alytus	Lithuania	Synagogue (Veisiejai)	1925
Vilejka	Minsk	Belarus	Synagogue (Wilejka)		before 1945
Wiśniowa	Lesser Poland	Poland	Synagogue (Wiśniowa)	1910 early 20th century
Woŭpa	Hrodna	Belarus	Synagogue (Wołpa)	early 17th century	1941	Square male bed room with an octagonal dome, which is converted into a square by five superimposed galleries. Covered by a three-storey mansard roof. Vestibule with a two-part mansard roof with a projection and gable. Corner buildings with galleries, hanging columns and curved tent roofs. Roof covering renewed in 1781.
Wysokie Mazowieckie	Podlaskie	Poland	Old Synagogue (Wysokie Mazowieckie)		1880	Almost square male bed room with a tent roof , women's rooms on two sides. Three corner pavilions with tent roofs; between the corner pavilions of the women's departments two small saddle roofs.
Zabłudów	Podlaskie	Poland	Synagogue (Zabłudów)	1635/46	1941	The layout is the same as that of the Wołpa synagogue.
Žiežmariai	Kaunas	Lithuania	Synagogue (Žiežmariai)	1875 2nd half of the 19th century.		Planned as a museum after renovation in 2018.

Reception in the modern synagogue building

Jewish Center of the Hamptons

Since the publication of the book Wooden Synagogues by Maria and Kazimierz Piechotka (1959), some American architects have referred to the formal language of Polish wooden synagogues:

• Sons of Israel Synagogue , Lakewood (David, Brody and Wisniewski 1963);
• Brith Kodesh , Rochester (Pietro Belluschi 1963);
• Beth El , Chappaqua (Lous Kahn, 1966/72);
• Adath Yeshurun , Syracuse (Percival Goodman, 1970s);
• The Jewish Center of the Hamptons (Norman Jaffe, 1989);
• The Orthodox Hampton Synagogue (Eddie Jacobs).

Replicas

Replica of the Wołpa synagogue

Interior of the synagogue in Hwisdez, partial reconstruction

A replica of the Wołpa synagogue is in Bilgoraj .

The Museum of the History of Polish Jews (Warsaw) has a partial reconstruction of the Hwisdez synagogue . The ceiling painting of the synagogue in Chodoriw was reconstructed for the Nahum Goldmann Diaspora Museum ( Beit Hatefusot ) in Tel Aviv.

In the Museé d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme (Paris) there are models of several wooden synagogues.

Web links

Commons : List of Wooden Synagogues  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaïsme : Plan de maquette de synagogue . Outlines of several wooden synagogues.
• Lithuanian Jewish Community: Wooden Synagogues: Lithuania's Unique Ethnic Architectural Legacy .
• The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, The Center for Jewish Art: Preserved Wooden Synagogues in Lithuania .
• European Routes of Jewish Heritage: The Wooden Synagogues of Central and Eastern Europe .

literature

• Alois Breier, Max Eisler, Max Grunwald: Wooden synagogues in Poland . Sohar, 1934. ( digitized version )
• Aliza Cohen-Mushlin, Sergey Kravtsov, Vladimir Levin, Giedrė Mickūnaitė, Jurgita Šiaučiūnaitė-Verbickienė (Eds.): Synagogues in Lithuania A – M: A catalog . Vilnius Academy of Arts Press, Vilnius 2010.
• Aliza Cohen-Mushlin, Sergey Kravtsov, Vladimir Levin, Giedrė Mickūnaitė, Jurgita Šiaučiūnaitė-Verbickienė (eds.): Synagogues in Lithuania N – Ž: A catalog . Vilnius Academy of Arts Press, Vilnius 2012.
• Maria Piechotka, Kazimierz Piechotka: Heaven's Gates: Masonry Synagogues in the Territories of the Former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth . Warsaw 2004.
• Mathias Bersohn: Kilka słów o dawniejszych bóżnicach drewnianych w Polsce . 3rd edition, Warsaw 1903. ( digitized version ) Source for the state of the wooden synagogues in the 19th century .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Barry L. Stiefel: Jews and the Renaissance of Synagogue Architecture, 1450-1730 . Routledge, Oxon / New York 2016, p. 17.
2. ^ Batsheva Goldman-Ida: Synagogues in Central and Eastern Europe in the Early Modern Period. In: Steven Fine (Ed.): Jewish Religious Architecture: From Biblical Israel to Modern Judaism . Brill, Leiden / Boston 2020, pp. 184–207, here p. 191 f.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, The Center for Jewish Art: Preserved Wooden Synagogues in Lithuania
4. ^ Synagogues in Lithuania AM: A catalog , Vilnius 2010, p. 75 ff.
5. ↑ Alois Breyer: Wood Synagogues in Poland , 1934, p. 19 f.
6. ↑ Alois Breyer: Wood Synagogues in Poland , 1934, p. 9 f.
7. ^ Alois Breyer: Wood synagogues in Poland , 1934, p. 17 f.
8. ↑ Virtual Shtetl: Synagogue in Cieszowa .
9. ↑ Historic Synagogues of Europe: Wooden Synagogue in Horodnia .
10. ^ ^{A b c d} Barry L. Stiefel: Jews and the Renaissance of Synagogue Architecture, 1450-1730 . Routledge, Oxon / New York 2016, p. 62.
11. ^ Alois Breyer: Wood Synagogues in Poland , 1934, p. 12 f.
12. ^ The Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art: Wooden Synagogue in Yabluniv (Jabłonów) .
13. ^ The Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art: Wooden Synagogue in Janów Sokolskii, Janów Sokolski, Mid-18th century .
14. ↑ Destroyed in a fire in 1913.
15. ^ Alois Breyer: Wood Synagogues in Poland , 1934, p. 30.
16. ^ Synagogues in Lithuania AM: A catalog , Vilnius 2010, p. 270 ff.
17. ^ The Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art: Wooden Synagogue in Kórnik .
18. ^ Historic Synagogues of Europe: Wooden synagogue in Kostroma .
19. ^ Synagogues in Lithuania AM: A catalog , Vilnius 2010, p. 281 ff.
20. ↑ Historic Synagogues of Europe: Wooden Synagogue in Laukuva .
21. ^ Historic Synagogues of Europe: Great Synagogue in Ludza .
22. ↑ Alois Breyer: Wood Synagogues in Poland , 1934, p. 28 f.
23. ^ ^{A b} Emanuil H. Ioffe: The Jews of Belarus in the 17th and 18th centuries . In: Dietrich Beyrau, Rainer Lindner (Hrsg.): Handbook of the history of Belarus . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, pp. 377–391, here p. 382.
24. ^ The Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art: Wooden synagogue in Mstislavl ' .
25. ^ The Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art: Great Wooden Synagogue in Mykhalkivtsi (Mikhalpol, Michałpol) .
26. ^ The Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art: Wooden Synagogue in Nowe Miasto nad Pilicą .
27. ↑ ^{a b} Synagogues in Lithuania N – Ž: A catalog . Vilnius Academy of Arts Press, Vilnius 2012, p. 9 ff.
28. ^ Alois Breyer: Wood synagogues in Poland , 1934, p. 18 f.
29. ^ The Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art: Wooden Synagogue in Pilica .
30. ^ The Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art: Wooden Kloyz of Hevra Kadisha in Plungė .
31. ↑ Maria and Kazimierz Piechotka: Heaven's Gates. Wooden synagogues in the territories of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. P. 451 ff. Polish Institute of World Art Studies & POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw 2015, ISBN 978-83-942048-6-0 .
32. ^ The Bezalel Index of Jewish Art: Wooden Synagogue in Połaniec .
33. ↑ Shmuel Spector (ed.): The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust , Volume 2, Jerusalem / New York 2001, p. 1462.
34. ↑ The Jewish quarter with the synagogue was destroyed in one of the opening battles of the Second World War. See Shmuel Spector (ed.): The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust , Volume 2, Jerusalem / New York 2001, p. 1462.
35. ↑ Alois Breyer: Wood Synagogues in Poland , 1934, p. 21 f.
36. ↑ Historic Synagogues of Europe: Synagogue in Puńsk .
37. ↑ Historic Synagogues of Europe: Green (New) wooden Beit Midrash in Rēzekne .
38. ^ Historic Synagogues of Europe: Wooden Synagogue in Skhidnytsia .
39. ^ Alois Breyer: Wood Synagogues in Poland , 1934, p. 18.
40. ^ The Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art: Wooden Synagogue in Smotrych .
41. ^ Alois Breyer: Wood Synagogues in Poland , 1934, p. 31.
42. ^ The Bezalel Index of Jewish Art: Soldiers' (Wooden) Synagogue in Tomsk .
43. ^ The Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art: Torah ark from the Wooden synagogue in Vuzliany (Uzliany) .
44. ↑ Virtual Shtetl: Chance of Saving the Wooden Synagogue in Wiśniowa .
45. ^ Destroyed by German bombardment in June 1941. See Shmuel Spector (ed.): The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust , Volume 3, Jerusalem / New York 2001, p. 1462.
46. ↑ Alois Breyer: Wood Synagogues in Poland , 1934, p. 22 f.
47. ↑ Dismantled due to dilapidation.
48. ^ Alois Breyer: Wood Synagogues in Poland , 1934, p. 21.
49. ↑ When they arrived on June 26, 1941, the Wehrmacht burned down most of the town. See Shmuel Spector (ed.): The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust , Volume 3, Jerusalem / New York 2001, p. 1479.
50. ^ Samuel D. Gruber: Modern Synagogue Architecture . In: Steven Fine (Ed.): Jewish Religious Architecture: From Biblical Israel to Modern Judaism . Brill, Leiden / Boston 2020, pp. 307–333, here p. 320 f.

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