A rare wooden synagogue will be transferred from the village of Veliky Komiaty to Uzhhorod, the administrative center of the Transcarpathian region, where it will be restored and form part of the Transcarpathian Museum of Folk Architecture and Life, an open-air skansen. Once restored and in place, it will also be able to be used for religious services.
The announcement was made by the museum in a Facebook post on Thursday.
“The Transcarpathian Museum of Folk Architecture and Life is preparing for an important addition,” it said. “The exposition of the Skansen will soon be joined by a rare architectural monument – a wooden synagogue from the village of Veliky Komaty of Berehove district.”
It said that the transfer would take place this year, and the “restoration and furnishing of the interior in accordance with religious traditions will begin.”
In the future, it said, “the synagogue will function not only as a museum exhibit, but also as a space for the cultural and spiritual life of the Jewish community.”
The synagogue is a small, simple rectangular building that dates from the late 19th or early 20th century. From the outside looks like a house, but its arched windows and some interior details remain. In recent decades it was used as a barn or warehouse or stood empty.
It is one of the few wooden synagogues to have survived in eastern Europe. Before WW2, the region boasted hundreds of often large and elaborately ornate wooden synagogues.
The move is fruit of a memorandum of cooperation signed by the representatives of four institutions, it said. These were: the director of the Department of Culture of the Transcarpathian Regional Military Administration Yevhen Tyshchuk; the Consul General of Hungary in Uzhhorod Jozsef Bachkai; the rabbi of Uzhhorod and Transcarpathia Mendel Wilhelm; and the Acting. Director of the museum Vasyl Kotsan.
The Deputy Director of the region’s Department of Strategic Communications, Nationalities and Religions also attended the signing ceremony.
The synagogue was first studied in the 1980s by the Hungarian synagogue researcher Aniko Gazda. After her death in 1990, architects from Lviv continued her research. Detailed architectural drawing and description were made. The building measures 13.83 × 7.92 meters; some details of the interior remain.
Read a description off the building in English, from 1992 on the Center for Jewish Art web site
See photo galleries on the Center for Jewish Art web site
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1 comment on “Ukraine: A rare wooden synagogue will be transferred from the village of Velyki Komiaty to Uzhhorod, where it will form part of the open-air Transcarpathian Museum of Folk Architecture and Life. It will also be used for religious purposes”
I think that this would be a wonderful addition to the museum. My Jewish parents grew up in Uzhhorod and, although I have already visited Uzhhorod, once restored, I will return to Uzhhorod once more to see the renovated synagogue in the outdoor museum. Thank you to all parties involved.