Synagogue in Nowy Sącz

In the heart of the former Jewish quarter of Nowy Sącz, not far from the royal castle, stands the brick synagogue known as Grodzka. Built in 1746, it ranks among the more valuable baroque synagogues in Małopolska and today combines the memory of the town's Jews with a sacred function and art.

Eight metres below the church

The synagogue was raised on a rectangular plan measuring 25 by 19 metres, on the site of an older wooden house of prayer, thanks to a privilege granted by the starost Jerzy Paweł Lubomirski in 1699. Restrictions on building at the time meant that the walls reached only 8 metres — the synagogue could not rise higher than the lowest church in town. The characteristic broken "Polish" roof was originally covered with shingles.

Fire, Wyspiański, war

In 1889 Stanisław Wyspiański sketched the synagogue's interior. Five years later the building burned down, yet the sturdy walls survived — the reconstruction added a façade with two small square towers, Moorish and neo-Romanesque elements and a protruding avant-corps over the main entrance. During the Second World War the occupiers devastated the interior and used it as a warehouse for looted property. After the war the building passed to the District Museum; after a thorough renovation, from 1982, it housed an art gallery with a permanent display of Judaica entitled "Byli wśród nas" (They Were Among Us). In 1994 a plaque was unveiled in memory of the 25,000 Jews of Nowy Sącz and the region who perished in the Holocaust.

The return of the Torah

In 2015 the building was taken over by the Jewish Religious Community in Kraków, and on 23 May 2017 the synagogue regained its religious function — around two hundred Hasidim attended the ceremony. Thousands of pilgrims also visit the tomb of Rabbi Chaim Halberstam in Nowy Sącz. Before visiting, check the current availability of the interior.