Exciting news from Ukraine — restoration work has begun on the monumental fortress synagogue in Sataniv (Satanov), a massive building believed to date from 1514.
Closed down in the 1930s and then used as a warehouse, the building has languished in disrepair for decades: a ruined shell that still, however, conserved the niche of the Ark, decorated with sculpted lions and golden griffins.
The journalist and preervation activist Dmytro Panair, who runs a web site on Jewish heritage in Ukraine’s Podolia Region, writes that technical documentation and other preparatory work coordinated by the owner, the Khmelnitsky Regional Jewish Community, which took control of the building last spring, and the Culture Ministry was carried out this summer. A respected company called PRAT “Kamianets-Podilsky-Restoration” that specializes in the restoration of historic buildings is carrying out the project.
Media reports say financing of the project comes from the regional Jewish community and also “Russian businessmen.”
Mr. Panair kindly provided the photographs we present on this page.
The actual restoration work on the building began in October.
According to Arthur Friedman, a board member of the regional Jewish community, plans call for basic structural rescue work to be completed in 2013. Restoration of the foundations and underground part of the complex, as well as final work on the structure as a whole, is to be completed in 2014. A reconstruction of the wooden interior, based on photographs, will take place in 2015.
Already the top part of the building, which had been covered in a thick layer of dirt and a small forest of trees and shrubs has been cleared, and by winter the walls and interior vaulted ceiling are expected to be reinforced and a temporary protective roof installed.
The web site of the Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Ukraine describes the synagogue’s thick walls, massive buttresses, and musket and cannon embrasures. “At one time it was an important node in the system of fortifications Satanov,” it notes, “and on its roof was a gun battery.” One of the conservators, Nikolai Ivashchuk, told the media that during the work restorers had discovered the rusted remains of an Austrian bayonet and rifle from World War I.
See a video report about the synagogue reconstruction here
Sataniv also has a remarkable and important Jewish cemetery, where several sages are buried. The earliest legible gravestone is from 1554. Many of the gravestones have extraordinary carved decoration, including at least two that show the rare “Three Hares” design — an optical illusion showing three hares chasing each other, connected by their ears, but instead of six ears only three can be counted.
— REG
6 comments on “Ukraine: Restoration of 16th Century Synagogue in Sataniv”
אנחנו בישראל מאושרים משיקום בית הכנסת, ביקרנו בסטנוב 4 פעמים לראשונה ב-1993 ולאחרונה עם ילדינו ב2007 למעלה מ-20 שנה אנחנו חוקרים את העיירה היהודית סטנוב בביתנו בישראל ישנו ארכיון על העיירה סטנוב, תמונות סרטים חומר הסטורי, ישנה רשימה של אנשי העיירה שעלו לישראל וגם תמונותיהם אנחנו נותנים הרצאות על העבר היהודי של העיירה סטנוב , חלומנו היה שיקום בית הכנסת ובית הקברות העתיקים , ישנו פתגם האומר ש”עבודת צדיקים נעשית על ידי אחרים “, אנחנו מודים לכל מי שידו הייתה בהצלת בית הכנסת, ברוכים תהיו.
זהרה ויענקלה דקל ישראל
זהבה
ראיתי את זה רק היום
הסבא שלי הגיע לארהייב לפני כ100 שנה מסאטאנוב, דרך ארגנטינה, איפה היתה לו משפחה
אני אמריקא שפעם עלה לישראל, ביליתי המון שנים שם, וכרגע גר כאן באיזור פילדלפיה
אני לאשתי מזדמנים לישראל כדי לבקר את אמא ואחים שלה. אמא גרה בקיבוץ בעמק הירדן, אחים קצת מפוזרים.
אני מאוד מעוניין לראות את החומרשיש לכם על יהודי סאטאנוב, בביקור הבא ( אולי ב 2017, אם ירצה השם..(
האימייל שלי הוא
[email protected]
תודה
דניס גרינשטיין
לסבא שלי קראו הכשיל קופרשטייו
The restoration of this magnificent synagogue at Sataniv will be a triumph not only for the Jewish community of Ukraine but for the cultural identity and diversity of all Ukrainian people. The history of the Jewish community is such a large part of Ukrainian history.
Congratulations Ukraine!
Пане Марко, якщо Вам потрібні фотографії Синагоги в Сатанові гарної якості, у тому числі 20-30-х років ХХ ст, пишіть, – вишлю. У мене їх багато
Dear Marla (if I may),
I’m happy that we’ve become friends on Facebook and look forward to exploring our mutual interests with you. I’m now writing quickly because I’m leaving for the airport in forty-five minutes and flying to Edmonton, where I’ll be giving a lecture tomorrow at the University of Alberta entitled “Ministers of Rightenousness? Greek Catholic Clergymen and Poles and Jews in 1939-1945.” I’ll illustrate the talk with slides, and I’ll discuss events in Peremyshliany (Przemyślany) in July 1941, including the attempt to burn Jews in the town’s synagogue. I’ve found a photograph of the synagogue from the 1930s on the internet, but the scan is of poor quality. Do you have any good photographs of the synagogue, including perhaps recent ones, that you could send my by e-mail? I have to log off my computer soon, but I’ll be checking my e-mail when I arrive at my hotel in Edmonton this evening. I will, of course, gratefully acknowledge anything that you can contribute if the lecture grows, as I hope it will, into an article or perhaps even a little book.
With best regards,
Marco Carynnyk