(JHE) — The Okopowa st. Jewish cemetery in Warsaw is the only Jewish site among 444 historic sites to win state financial support in the first stage of a twice a year competition for conservation funding organized by the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage, and Sport.
The Foundation for Heritage, which is overseeing restoration work in the cemetery, will receive 330,000 zloty (€73,000).
The Ministry twice a year calls for applications for funding under the “Protection of Monuments” program, whose aim, it states, “is to preserve the tangible cultural heritage through the conservation and restoration of immovable and movable monuments and making them available for public purposes.”
According to the news site jewish.pl:
Decisions on which projects get funded are made on the basis of a score, based on, . among other things, the necessity to carry out works, age and value of the monument, “maintaining and spreading the Polish national and state tradition,” strengthening the local identity, and the social function of the facility.
In the current edition, more than 2,250 applications were submitted. The Ministry chose 444 projects that received 70 points and up. (For the full list of applications and awards click here.)
The Okopowa Jewish cemetery was the only Jewish heritage site to receive enough points for funding.
Jewish.pl listed these other Jewish heritage sites, whose projects were applied for but did not receive enough competition points for funding. Still, it’s an indication of some projects that are under way or planned.
Under the regulations of the competition, projects that did not receive funding have until March 6 to appeal the decision.
• The Municipal Commune of Lubaczów for the fence of the Jewish cemetery from the 18th century (69.33 points)
• Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Cultural Heritage (FODZ) for the conservation of the Jarociński family tombstone at the cemetery in Łódź (67.33 points),
• The Cukerman Gate Foundation for the conservation and reconstruction of wall paintings in the Cukerman Prayer House (67.67 points),
• The Jewish Religious Community in Kraków for construction and conservation works in the 18th centuryl synagogue in Bobowa (64.33 points),
• The Jewish Community of Warsaw for work in the Nożyk synagogue (63.67 points) and repair of the wall of the cemetery in Lublin at ul. Sienna (63.67 points),
• The Historical Association of the Jews of the City of Częstochowa for the revitalization of the former mikveh (62.67 points)
• The Jewish Religious Community in Kraków for the removal of the emergency condition of the Tempel synagogue structure (62.67 points),
• Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland (FODZ) for conservation works at the cemetery in Zielona Góra (62 points),
• The Jewish Religious Community in Gdańsk for the replacement of windows and doors in the New Synagogue (60.00 points).