Szydłów Synagogue

The Szydłów Synagogue (Polish: Wielka Synagoga w Warszawie) is a former Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, that is located at 3 Targowa Street, in Szydłów, in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship of Poland. The stone fortress synagogue with heavy buttresses on all sides^[3] was completed in 1564 in the Renaissance and Gothic Survival styles.^[1]

The synagogue served as a house of prayer until World War II when it was devastated by Nazis. During the war it served as a weapons and food magazine. After the war, it briefly served as a village cinema, cultural center and has operated as a Jewish museum since the 1980s.^[2]

Completed in the 16th century and rebuilt in the 18th-century, the interior was richly decorated by Jehuda Lejb, an artist who had decorated synagogues in Działdów and Pińczów.

Following its desecration in World War II, the building was renovated in the 1960s for use as a library and cultural centre. The women's gallery served as a town library while the main floor was a cultural center. In 1995 the library was closed due to budget cuts and the building stood in need of repair, especially to the roof, which was leaking.^[3] The renovation altered the building's exterior appearance, but the interior was preserved intact. The original, built-in, masonry Torah Ark is particularly notable.^[3]

The first official inventory of important buildings in Poland, A General View of the Nature of Ancient Monuments in the Kingdom of Poland, led by Kazimierz Stronczynski from 1844 to 1855, describes the Szydłów Synagogue as one of Poland's architecturally notable buildings.^[4]

A further renovation during the 1980s restored some of the former synagogue's historical features, including several unique wall lamps.^[2] The renovated synagogue hosts a small exhibition of Judaica elements.

1. ^ ^{a b} "Synagogue in Szydłów". Historic Synagogues of Europe. Foundation for Jewish Heritage and the Center for Jewish Art at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. n.d. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
2. ^ ^{a b c} "Szydłów: Synagoga przy ul. Targowej". Virtual Shtetl. POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. 2017. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
3. ^ ^{a b c} Gruber, Samuel; Myers, Phyllis (November 1995). "Survey of Historic Jewish Monuments in Poland". Report to the President's Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad. Jewish Heritage Council World Monuments Fund. p. 46.
4. ^ Piechotka, Maria; Piechotka, Kazimierz (2004). Heaven's Gates; Wooden synagogues in the Territories of the Former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Krupski i S-ka. p. 174.

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