Old Synagogue in Pińczów

The Old Synagogue in Pińczów is a stone synagogue built in 1594–1609, one of the oldest surviving Jewish houses of prayer in Poland and the only well-preserved trace of the once large Jewish community of the Ponidzie region. It stands on Klasztorna Street in the former Mirów district and is looked after by the Regional Museum in Pińczów. Inside you will find a Renaissance Torah ark, fragments of wall paintings and an exhibition of Judaica.

History: from the Myszkowskis to the Holocaust

The synagogue was built with the consent of Grand Marshal of the Crown Zygmunt Gonzaga Myszkowski, most likely to a design by the Florentine architect Santi Gucci. Jews lived in Pińczów from at least 1576, when they paid poll tax for ten people. The town's owners guaranteed them religious tolerance and free trade, so Pińczów became one of the largest Jewish centres of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth – the Council of Four Lands met here three times. An old Polish saying, "as many Jews as in Pińczów", comes from this period.

During the Second World War the Germans wrecked the interior and removed or destroyed its furnishings, including a collection of about 100 Torah scrolls. The building was used as a garage and warehouse and was damaged by bombing in 1944. After the war it stored artificial fertiliser. The museum took it over in the 1980s, and the main conservation work was carried out in 1998–2005, with support from the World Monuments Fund among others. In June 2006 the first Shabbat service since the war was held here.

Architecture

The Pińczów synagogue is the oldest example in Polish synagogue architecture of the longitudinal layout: the men's hall, the vestibule with the kahal room and the women's gallery upstairs were all built at the same time and form one compact block under a shared roof. Stone walls are braced by buttresses, and a plain attic hides a sunken wooden roof covered with copper. The prayer hall measures about 10.7 × 9.5 m and lies below street level, because the building was set on a gentle slope.

What to see

• Torah ark (Aron ha-kodesh) – a Mannerist ark of local Pińczów limestone with lions holding the Crown of the Torah; conserved in Toruń and returned in 1997.
• Wall paintings with unicorns, griffins, peacocks and eagles, plus Hebrew inscriptions.
• Vestibule with paintings, foundation inscriptions dated 1695–96 and 1741–42, and graffiti carved by visitors centuries ago.
• Stained-glass windows by Jacek Nowak showing hundreds of faces, brought from Heidelberg in 2005.
• A 19th-century Torah scroll that was walled up for years, and a stone charity box from around 1625–1636.

The synagogue is surrounded by a wall into which fragments of recovered matzevot (gravestones) have been set since 1990. It serves as a memorial to the Jews of Pińczów murdered in the Holocaust.

Tripto tips

The synagogue has no regular opening hours – visits must be booked in advance by phone (41 357 24 72 or 41 357 54 04) or in person at the museum at ul. Piłsudskiego 2a, which is open from October to April, Tuesday to Sunday, 8:00–16:00. A ticket costs PLN 15 (reduced PLN 12); a combined ticket for the museum, synagogue, Garden Tower and Arian House costs PLN 55 / 45. The museum's free Tuesdays do not apply to the synagogue. Allow about 45 minutes, and combine it with the museum and a walk up to St Anne's Chapel on the hill.