Poland: explore a detailed new 3D digital reconstruction of the monumental New Synagogue in Wrocław, Poland (pre WW2 Breslau, Germany)

Starting more than two decades ago, there have been many digital reconstructions of synagogues that no longer stand — especially those destroyed in November 1938 on Kristallnacht or later during World War II. Some are static, some are interactive, and some are linked to smartphone apps or other forms of augmented reality. We have posted about several of them.

Here’s another outstanding example that was launched online last month — a 3D digital reconstruction of the monumental New Synagogue in Wrocław, Poland, built in 1865–1872 and destroyed on Kristallnacht (when today’s Wrocław was Breslau, Germany).

The finished digital reconstruction, which forms part of a broader web site, was carried out as a project of the Institute of Architecture, Hochschule Mainz, fomally called “The New Synagogue in the Context of Three Religious Communities. Digital Reconstruction and Documentation of the Breslau/Wrocław Synagogue.” There is also an app that allows exploration of the synagogue via augmented reality.

The video of it includes text that tells the history of the synagogue, designed by Edwin Oppler and the second largest synagogue in the pre-WW2 German-speaking world, and also places the massive, domed building in the context of the city as a whole.

Digital Reconstruction – New Synagogue in Breslau from AI MAINZ on Vimeo.

The project web site presents the digital reconstruction along with extensive resources detailing how it was created, including illustrative material showing each component.

It also provide information about the history of the synagogue and the work of its architect, Oppler, who built five grand synagogues — all of which were destroyed.

And it places the synagogue in the context of the grand churches built around the same time for Catholic and Protestant communities — and the rivalry among the religious communities in constructing these monumental houses of worship.

The project provides for a semantically saturated digital model of the synagogue that harnesses new research methodology, using the Virtual research environment (Virtuelle Forschungsumgebung, VFU). VRE enables the scientific analysis of the sources used for the reconstruction of the building and the development of links connecting different sets of data, namely corporate bodies, persons, objects, sources, historical events, research activities and places.

The model also elaborates Breslau’s spatial context in ca. 1872, when the synagogue opened; it is also embedded in the social and cultural context of that time, most notably in religious matters. For the purpose, an extended database was developed to provide information on Evangelical and Catholic communities in the city, and two respective churches they almost concurrently developed: St Salvator’s Church and St Michael’s Church, which, together with the New Synagogue, were expected to act as vertical landmarks in Breslau’s cityscape. The project also advances new methodology for the digital reconstruction of historic architecture which provides for an innovative recontextualisation of perished cultural heritage using vibrant and thriving Digital Humanities.

Click here to access the web site

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