Churches & monasteries

Tykocin Synagogue

The Great Synagogue in Tykocin is a masonry house of prayer from the first half of the 17th century — today the second largest and one of the oldest surviving synagogues in Poland. Its square structure, measuring 18 by 18 metres, combines Baroque with late-Renaissance elements, and since 1976 it has housed a branch of the Podlasie Museum with a rich collection of Judaica.

Interior with a lowered floor

The main prayer hall measures 18.0 × 17.6 metres and rises 9 metres high. A nine-field vault surrounds the bimah standing on four massive pillars with Renaissance decoration, and the floor is deliberately lowered — a reference to the words of the Psalm, "Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord". In the tower, a rabbi's room and a reconstruction of the Passover Seder dinner have been arranged.

A turbulent history

The synagogue was most probably built after the town fire of 1638, on the site of an older, wooden house of prayer; in the 18th century a tower was added, which served as a jail. In 1941 the Germans devastated the interior and turned it into a warehouse, and after the war fertilisers were stored here for years. In 1965 a fire consumed the unique library and archives of the Jewish community. The building was saved by a thorough renovation carried out in 1974–1978.

What you will see today

The main hall displays historic Torah scrolls crowned with finials, tas, tallitot, tefillin, hanukkiot and menorot. In 1992 the synagogue was visited by the President of Israel, Chaim Herzog. Tykocin remains one of the key points of the Jewish heritage trail in the Podlachia region — the synagogue stands right by the Small Market Square, so you can weave it naturally into a stroll around the town.