Synagogue (Torhowyzja)
The wooden synagogue in Torhovytsja , a village in Rivne Oblast in Ukraine , was built at the beginning of the 19th century and burned down during World War II .
Exterior
The building consisted of a square main hall, in front of which there was a vestibule and above it the prayer room for the women. In front of these was a narrow, also two-story gallery with a staircase to the women's rooms. The walls consisted of horizontal wooden beams in two levels, which were divided by a cornice. The lower floor was divided into three by wooden pilasters on the sides; upstairs were the windows. For the main hall there were two pairs of windows with round arches; in the women's area a large square and a smaller rectangular window. The synagogue roof was a two-tier hipped roof ; the gallery in front had a transverse gable roof , but only at the level of the lower step of the main roof. The vestibule and gallery were built at the same time as the main hall.
Interior
Inside, the vault of the main hall was supported by four wooden pillars, making nine fields. The eight outer fields had a flat ceiling, while the middle field consisted of a twelve-sided dome that protruded into the roof structure.
The walls and the ceiling were painted. The dome, in particular, was richly decorated and structured by three ribbons: floral motifs at the bottom, the signs of the zodiac in the middle, and above vases and baskets between flowers and birds. The final vault was blue and painted with stars.
With the signs of the zodiac it was noticeable that the twins were depicted without heads. Presumably, the intention was to circumvent the prohibition on representation of the Second Commandment by interpreting it in such a way that only complete people were not allowed to be drawn.
Nothing is known about the Torah shrine and Bima .
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Maria and Kazimierz Piechotka: Heaven's Gates. Wooden synagogues in the territories of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Pages 519, 520. Polish Institute of World Art Studies & POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw 2015, ISBN 978-83-942048-6-0 . Detailed description.
- ↑ Maria and Kazimierz Piechotka: Heaven's Gates. Wooden synagogues in the territories of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Page 141. Polish Institute of World Art Studies & POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw 2015, ISBN 978-83-942048-6-0 . Interpretation of the Gemini zodiac sign.
