The reconstructed roof of the destroyed wooden synagogue of Gwozdziec (now Ukraine) is, after months and months of work on individual parts, now being erected on site at the new Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw.
The Timber Framers Guild has posted a series of pictures showing the work in progress.
The reconstruction of an 85 percent scale model of the tall peaked roof and richly decorated inner cupola is a project of the Handshouse Studio and the museum, which is due to open next autumn. The reconstructed roof and cupola will be a major installation there.
In the first stages of the project, in the summer of 2011, students, master timber-framers and volunteers gathered in Sanok, southeastern Poland, to build the structure, using hand tools that would have been used centuries ago.
This past summer, at workshops held in synagogues around Poland, teams of students and volunteers carried out the colorful, elaborate paintings that cover the interior of the cupola.