Dramatic new video compares the before and “during” states of the ongoing restoration of the once-devastated Great Maharsha Synagogue in Ostroh, Ukraine. What a change!
We’ve been following this ambitious project with great interest and have posted earlier photos and video — and we’re pleased to share the latest update.
Our first post about the synagogue came in December 2015 with The Great Maharsha Synagogue in Ostroh: Memory and Oblivion. Have we reached the point of no return? an article by Sergey R. Kravtsov of the Center for Jewish Art about this history of the building — in which he wondered whether it might be too late to save it.
Restoration work has been going on since 2016, spearheaded by local activist Grigori Arshinov. Built around 1627, the synagogue is an important example of a seminal architectural design for synagogues that emerged in eastern and then western Europe in the 17th century: the nine-bay layout, which symbolized the Twelve Tribes of Israel surrounding the Sanctuary.
Damaged during the Holocaust, it was then used as a pharmacological warehouse under the Soviets, and later abandoned.
Click here to see some of our earlier posts (and video) about the Ostroh restoration