The former synagogue in the historic Czech town of Český Krumlov, a UNESCO world heritage site, has been restored as a cultural venue that — the town web site states — will also be able to be used for religious purposes.
The restored building opens with a photographic exhibit on May 16.
The synagogue was built in 1908-1909 in a style that combines Art Nouveau and Neo-Romanesque and features an unusual eight-sided tower. (The book Jewish Monuments in Bohemia, by Blanka Rozkosna Pavel Jakubec names the architect as Viktor Kafka). Desecrated by the Nazis in 1938, it was used as a non-denominational Christian church for American soldiers in 1945, and after World War II — from 1945-1968 — it served (like many other former synagogues in CZ) as a Czech Hussite church. After that, it served as a warehouse for theatre props and then stood empty.
The building was restituted to the Prague Jewish community in 1997, and In 2006 the Český Krumlov Development Fund, an independent entity owned by the town, made an agreement to rent it for 30 years and restore it for cultural use. The SOS Synagogue Project was implemented, the web site states, “to make the synagogue a functioning place of worship, and an exhibition space to highlight the history of Český Krumlov’s Jewish Community, and the famous turn-of-the-century Bohemian photographer, Alfred Seidl.”
The history of the synagogue, as presented on the web site:
In 1908, Ludwig Spiro, one-time rabbinical student and successful Jewish paper mill owner, along with a group of other successful Jewish businessmen, funded the building of Český Krumlov’s Nouveau-Romanesque Synagogue. In 1909, building was completed, and for the next thirty years, the once small Jewish community doubled in size.
Built to face the direction of Jerusalem, with deep azure arched ceilings and colourful windows decorated with the Star of David, the synagogue must have been a remarkable sight. Directly outside, a beautifully landscaped park and Sukkoth hut beckoned. The acoustics of the synagogue came alive at Shabbat and other religious holidays. When there was a theatre production on, a perfectly tuned harmonium accompanied the accomplished chorus singers and their choir master.
In 1938, the Sudeten German movement and Nazi politics invaded the peaceful town and the lives of its inhabitants. Nazis confiscated the precious decorations from the synagogue, which was miraculously spared from conflagration or destruction, and converted it into a Hitler’s Youth Club. Most of the Český Krumlov Jews were sent to Terezín and other concentration camps. At the end of the Second World War, American soldiers took refuge here, using it as an interdenominational church. Later, the Czech Order of Hussites used the synagogue as their church. After Russian tanks rolled into Prague in 1968, the synagogue became a storage room, eventually housing a repository for the Český Krumlov Baroque Theatre’s wooden painted sceneries until the1980s.