(JHE) — Restoration work has begun on the roofless, ruined, 200-year-old synagogue in Krzepice, Poland, following receipt earlier this year of 500,000 zloty (€111,000) in grants from the state and region.
“RESTORATION OF THE SYNAGOGUE IS ON,” the Facebook page for the klobucka.pl news site announced in a post that included pictures showing builders constructing a new roof to protect the building, the first step in the reconstruction plan.
In April, the city administration received a grant of 400,000 PLN from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage for the first stage of renovation (according to local media, it had applied for 800,000 PLN). It received another 100,000 PLN from the Regional Monuments Conservator in Katowice.
The synagogue was built around 1815-1822. It was devastated during World War II and has stood an abandoned ruin since then. Despite its ruinous condition, it is listed as a historic monument in 1969. The klobucka.pl web site describes it thus:
The building was erected on a rectangular plan with dimensions of 13.5 by 24 meters. In the eastern part of this building, with high, semicircular windows, there was the main prayer room, and in the western part – a vestibule with a women’s gallery on the first floor. The façade of the synagogue was formed by a four-column portico with a triangular tympanum. Above the ruined entrance, there is still a stone plaque with a stylized Star of David supported by two lions. Inside, there is also a recess for Aron Kodesh.
For years the building was privately owned. The city obtained possession of the building in 2016 after the owner died, and since then Mayor Krystian Kotynia and the local administration, along with local civic activists, have been trying to save it.
In 2016, the local artist, social activist and historian Romuald Cieśla received a “Preserving Memory award for his work regarding the Jewish cemetery and synagogue in Krzepice with the involvement of local students, and writing about local Jewish history. Ciesla has devoted more than 30 years to preserving the Jewish heritage and memory of the town. The awards are presented annual to non-Jewish Poles who preserve, protect, maintain, and promote Jewish heritage in Poland.
When restoration is completed, the synagogue is expected to become a culture center with an exhibition about local Jewish history and heritage.
In 2014, the architectural student Marcin Cibor created a nontraditional visual riff on the synagogue as his diploma project in interior design. Take a look:
Besides the synagogue, Krzepice is known for its important Jewish cemetery, which has one of the largest collections of cast iron matzevot in Europe, around 400, and which has been undergoing clean-up, maintenance, and restoration over the past more than two decades.
Małgorzata Frąckowiak writes on the cmentarze-zydowskie.pl web site:
The Krzepice cemetery is unique. It is one of the largest collections of cast iron matzevas in Europe, counting more than 400 of these. The majority of the Krzepice matzevas was produced in the steelwork of Stara Kuznica, which was in Jewish hands for some period of time in the XIX century. Unfortunately after the war this cemetery was completely devastated, with cases of some cast iron matzevas being sold as scrap metal.
In 1997 the first attempt of restoration the cemetery was taken the Polish Union of Jewish Students and Jan Jagielski from the Jewish Historical Institute. They removed weeds and rose some knocked tombstones. According to an inventory from 1997, the number of surviving gravestones is 244 stone matzevas, 66 matzevas made from stone objects like columns, and 402 cast iron matzevas. In 2000 due to an initiative of students from local and Warsaw schools, along with pupils from a special school in Borzecziczki led by Jerzy Fornalik, major restoration works started. They raised, cleaned and dug out tombstones […] Almost all of the remaining cast iron matzevas have been restored and painted with anticorrosive coating.
In recent years, annual maintenance work has been undertaken by NGO The Matzevah Foundation, working with other groups.
See the Klobucka.pl Facebook post and photos of the start of the renovation
Read local media about the plans for restoration and history of the synagogue, and see pictures — HERE and HERE
Read about the Jewish cemetery (in English)
2 comments on “Poland: Restoration of the 200-year-old ruined synagogue in Krzepice has begun”
This is an amazing story and I’m so pleased to hear of this restoration project. My father is from Kzrepice and when we visited in 1981 I recall the synagogue and cemetery were in such poor condition.
Love this!
My Mother came from this little town. We visited this area some years ago and was shocked at the condition of what was left of this Synagogue and the. Cemetery. We could hardly read the names on the headstones in the Cemetery. I know my Grandparents were buried there before the war. Would have loved to see them and say prayers.
So glad that this is being done. Will definitely visit someday to see the progress.