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Pińczów
Pinczów - currently an unremarkable town with nearly 13,000 inhabitants, hit the map in the first half of the 15th century. This village which was originally called Pandziczow grew quickly under the rule of the Olesnicki family and obtained its municipal charter in 1428.
A document dating from 1576 is the first to make mention of the Jewish presence in Pinczów, when the Myszkowski family owned it. The Myszkowskis created the Mirów district in the south of the town, which in time became the center of the town's Jewish community. In 1594 Zygmunt Myszkowski granted the Jews of Pinczów privileges clearly delimiting the areas in which they were and were not allowed to be active.
The synagogue. Photo: J.J.
The Jews of this village were generally involved in commerce, banking and artisanal crafts. He also granted them the right to construct a synagogue, which was built in the 16th century and is the only remaining trace of Pinczów�s Jews.
During Second World Waw the other synagogue, dating from the 17th century, was devastated and torn down after the war. Both Jewish cemeteries were leveled during the 1960s. Several dozen surviving gravestones were used to build a lapidarium (in this case a memorial wall) that encircles the synagogue, which is a typical example of late renaissance sacred architecture with distinct defensive features.
Lapidarium around the synagogue. Photo: J.J.
The synagogue's architect was most likely the Florentine Santi Gucci, whose design of a symmetrical cube with a sunken roof hidden by a defensive wall is mostly devoid of ornamentation.
Aron ha-kodesz. Foto: J.J.
The building has thick sloping walls with high windows and massive buttresses on the corners. You enter the synagogue through a spacious vestibule that served as both the meeting place for the district council as well the rabbinical court. This space is lit up by a rich polychrome ceiling, which has been recently renovated.
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Between rich floral ornamentation, Hebrew inscriptions are written so as to depict silhouettes of animals, birds, flowers and fruit. The late renaissance stone aron ha-kodesh is flanked by two columns and crowned with a triangular filial. The prayer hall is an imposing space that is roughly 30 meters long and 25 meters wide with an 18 meter-high vaulted ceiling. The women's area is located in the southern part of the building and has a cross-shaped vaulted ceiling.
Murals inside the synagogue. Foto: K.W.
During the Nazi occupation a ghetto was created in Pinczów in which 3000 inhabitants were imprisoned. A portion of them were shot in a nearby forest; the rest were sent to Treblinka.
The Germans used the synagogue as a garage during their occupation. After the war it was used as a warehouse for chemical fertilizer and building materials. In the 1970s it was decided to turn it into the Ponidzia Museum.
Murals inside the synagogue. Foto: J.J.
Renovations have been in progress for over twenty years. The roof has been rebuilt and the building is now protected against the threat of moisture. Work on restoring the interior has likewise begun, having returned both the polychrome interior and the aron ha-kodesh to its former splendor. Work on reading and renovating the inscriptions discovered on the prayer hall's walls continues. The stone bimah has yet to be restored; only traces remain in the spot where it stood until the outbreak of Second World War.
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