Great Synagogue in Tykocin

Before World War II, Jews made up roughly half of Tykocin's population — about 2,000 people. On 25–26 August 1941 the Germans murdered about 2,500 people in the nearby Łopuchowo Forest — almost the entire local community. What remains is the Great Synagogue from the first half of the 17th century: today the second largest and one of the oldest surviving synagogues in Poland, and since 1976 a branch of the Podlasie Museum with a rich collection of Judaica.

Built after a great fire

The brick synagogue was most likely built after a fire swept the town in 1638, on the site of an older wooden one. Tykocin had a Jewish community from 1522, and in the 17th and 18th centuries it was one of the leading Jewish centres in Podlasie, home to many respected rabbis and Talmudic scholars. In the 18th century a low tower was added at one corner; it originally served as a prison for members of the community. On three sides the synagogue was surrounded by low annexes: small shops, study houses and women's galleries, from which women followed the prayers through barred windows.

An interior "out of the depths"

The building stands on a square plan of 18 × 18 m, in Baroque style with many late-Renaissance details. The main prayer hall measures 18.0 × 17.6 m and is 9 m high. At its centre stands the bimah, the reading platform, on four massive pillars with Renaissance decoration, surrounded by a nine-bay vault. The floor is deliberately set lower than the ground outside, echoing the psalm "Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord". The walls still bear colourful paintings of plant tendrils, animals and large panels with Hebrew and Aramaic prayer texts. On the east wall stands a richly carved stone Aron ha-Kodesh, the cabinet for the Torah scrolls.

Destruction and rescue

In 1941 the Germans looted and wrecked the interior and turned it into a warehouse. After the war the town authorities stored artificial fertiliser here. In 1965 a fire destroyed the community's unique library and archive, and the books that survived were thrown into the river. The building was saved by a thorough restoration in 1974–1978. In 1992 Israel's President Chaim Herzog visited the synagogue.

What you'll see

In the prayer hall the museum displays crowned Torah scrolls, Torah shields, prayer shawls, tefillin, Hanukkah lamps, menorahs and spice boxes. The tower contains a rabbi's room and a table laid for the Passover Seder meal. In front of the entrance you can see the foundations of market stalls from the first half of the 18th century. Legend has it that a rabbi placed amulets with prayers in the great chandelier — and when it fell on the eve of Yom Kippur, it supposedly landed so that nobody was hurt.

Tripto tip

The synagogue is at ul. Kozia 2, right by the Small Market Square (Mały Rynek), a few minutes' walk from the main square and the Holy Trinity church. Allow about an hour for the museum. Tens of thousands of people visit every year, so on summer weekends it is best to come early. The Łopuchowo Forest, with memorials to the victims of the 1941 massacre, is a few kilometres away — it is worth going there to understand why there are no longer any Jews in Tykocin. Check opening hours and prices on the Podlasie Museum's website.