Tempel Synagogue, Kraków

From Miodowa Street, the Tempel looks like an elegant town house with a triangular gable. Inside, visitors find a colourful, gilded hall in the Moorish style, quite unlike the austere Renaissance synagogues of Kazimierz. This Progressive synagogue was built in 1860–1862 for Jews who wanted to combine their faith with Polish language and culture. Today it is one of four active synagogues in Kraków, although services are held here only a few times a year.

History: a synagogue with an organ

Efforts to build it took 17 years. The initiative came from the Association of Progressive Israelites, and the design was by Ignacy Hercok. The liturgy was reformed: sermons were preached once a week in Polish and German, an organ played, and between the wars women sang in the choir. Orthodox Jews in Kazimierz criticised these customs for a long time. In 1893–1894 the building was remodelled by Beniamin Torbe, gaining a new west façade, an eastern apse and Moorish interior decoration. A final rebuilding in 1924 gave it its present shape.

During the Second World War the Germans used the synagogue as a warehouse and turned the north aisle into a stable. After the war both Progressive and Orthodox Jews prayed here, and a mikveh (ritual bath) was added in 1947. Services gradually faded and stopped after the death of the last cantor, Abraham Lesman, in 1985. The building was saved by the World Monuments Fund of New York, which spent a million dollars on a thorough restoration from 1994 to 2000.

What to see

• The ceiling of the main hall – a Moorish painted design, probably based on the decoration of the minbar in the Ibn Tulun Mosque in Cairo.
• The Aron ha-Kodesh (Torah ark) of white Carrara marble on a six-step platform, topped by a gilded half-dome and crown. Behind it is an apse with a star-studded painted sky.
• The stained glass – 43 coloured windows from 1894–1909 and 1925, funded by members of the congregation. Two of them show the Temple of Jerusalem in the form of the Dome of the Rock.
• The women's galleries on decorative cast-iron columns, with balustrades adorned with stucco palm leaves.

Interesting facts

The Tempel's windows are regarded as the only surviving synagogue stained glass in Poland. Only one is signed by its maker, the Żeleński workshop in Kraków. One window repeats a motif from the 18th-century painted interior of the wooden synagogue in Jabłonów. A plaque listing distinguished members of the association has an empty right half, because no further names were carved before the war broke out. Prince Charles visited the synagogue in 2002, and in 2008 he opened the Jewish Community Centre behind it.

Tripto tip

The synagogue is at ul. Miodowa 24, a few minutes' walk from Szeroka Street and the Old Synagogue. The interior is easiest to see during the day, outside the Sabbath and Jewish holidays. A visit takes about 20–30 minutes. Check current opening hours and admission with the Jewish Religious Community of Kraków, and men should bring a head covering. The best time to come is summer, during the Jewish Culture Festival: good acoustics and room for several hundred people make cantorial and klezmer concerts here some of the most atmospheric events in town. Book festival tickets in advance.