|
Synagogues and cemeteries in Przedborz
Cemeteries
It is currently difficult to determine just were the first Jewish cemetery in Przedbórz was located. It was created in 1594, when the Jewish ommunity was created and the first synagogue was built. Admittedly, the Jews who settled in the town appeared much earlier, but their numbers were few and they did not officially establish their own community. After the 1657 massacre of Przedbórz’s Jewish residents, they cemetery was not used for a long time.
Photo: A.Bia³kowski
It was only at the turn of the 18th century, after a wave of new settlers arrived, that the Jewish community was restored. At this time, the one and a half hectare cemetery at Ogrodowa Street was restored. During the war, the Germans destroyed the cemetery. Only about fifty gravestones remain, with the oldest dating from 1709. In the local Przedbórz Folk Museum, located at 9 Kielecka Street, one can also find a few gravestones that were taken from the cemetery.
Synagogues
The first wooden synagogue in Przedbórz was built in 1594, after the Jewish community was officially founded.
|
Historical records dating from 1636 mention that it was destroyed by fire that same year. In 1638, King Ladislaus IV granted permission to rebuild it. The wooden synagogue was rebuilt just before the Swedish Deluge. After retaking the city from the Swedish army, the synagogue was destroyed during the pogrom carried out against Przedbórz’s Jewish population. For a long time afterwards, Przedbórz did not have a synagogue. It was not until 1745, after the Jewish population began to resettle, that the Jewish community was granted the right to rebuild the synagogue destroyed during the war. Until that time, Jews made due with prayer houses, i.e. spaces that had been adapted to serve religious purposes. The new synagogue was finished in 1760, a date inscribed on one of the building’s vaults. The building was once again made of wood. The western wall of the main hall was connected to a vestibule, on the other side of which was located the room in which the Jewish community’s council met. The women’s gallery was located above these spaces. At a much later date, a second women’s gallery was added to the southern part of the building, to which one ascended via stairs located in a corner annex. A shingled, lean-to roof originally covered this southern addition. It was later upgraded with a metal roof. The women’s gallery was supported by pilasters, rectangular ones on the west and round ones on the south. The synagogue was covered by a gabled roof. The wooden bimah was located not far the entrance to the rectangular main hall. The women’s gallery located on the first floor was separated from the hall by a balustrade and latticework. An essential element of the interior decoration was the vaulting of the main hall and the gallery. The tunnel-vaulted ceiling was covered in a flat decorative mesh-like grid made of wooden slats and carved boards.
You are welcome to discuss about "Synagogues and cemeteries in Przedborz"
|
mapa miejsc
|
)