Synagogue (Valkininkai)
The wooden synagogue in Valkininkai , a town in Lithuania , was built in the 18th century and destroyed in June 1941 a few days after the German troops marched in.
architecture
The main hall (the men's prayer room) was entered through a vestibule to the west. To the left and right of it stood two low corner pavilions. The (also lower) prayer room for women was built along the north side; This part was wider than the corner pavilion in front of it and therefore protruded laterally over its entire length. This asymmetry of the overall structure was probably due to the terrain (sloping terrain). The walls were made of horizontal beams on a stone base.
The entrance to the vestibule was through two symmetrically attached doors with triangular points on the west side and from there through a central door to the main hall. To the right and left was another door to the corner pavilions. The door to the women's area was rectangular and to the side of the corner pavilion on the wall extending beyond it.
The building had two high-lying rectangular windows in pairs on each side. The women's rooms and the corner pavilions had smaller square windows. There was a small round window between the outer doors to the vestibule and in the roof there was an attic window to the west and east .
The roof was three-tiered; the lower two steps were mansard roofs that were closed off by a gable roof.
Interior design
The main hall was five steps lower than the surrounding rooms. It was almost square with 11.60 × 10.50 m. The wall height was 7.30 m and up to the top of the vaulted dome 11.50 m.
Four rectangular wooden pillars supported the roof vault and divided the room into nine almost equally sized fields. Between these columns, shifted to the west towards the entrance, stood the Bima .
The bima itself was octagonal and had the shape of a small arbor or chapel with an open canopy that protruded into the vaulted dome. At the top stood the figure of an eagle with wings spread and its head cocked upwards.
The Torah shrine in the Rococo style protruded clearly from the east wall. It consisted of several levels, with the structure protruding into the vault. Above the lower part, which housed the Torah scrolls , the tablets of the law were placed on the second level . These were framed by carvings (including birds and lions). The whole thing was completed at the top by the figure of a double-headed eagle .
Both the Bima and the Torah shrine were of high artistic value and handcrafted production; however, their style differed, so it must be assumed that they were made by different artists and craftsmen.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Maria and Kazimierz Piechotka: Heaven's Gates. Wooden synagogues in the territories of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commenwealth. Polish Institute of World Art Studies & POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, pages 415 ff. Warsaw 2015, ISBN 978-83-942048-6-0 . All information about the synagogue.