The Old Synagogue on Szeroka Street: Poland's Oldest Jewish House of Prayer
Why is it significant?
Stand before the red-brick battlements and Renaissance attic wall of the Old Synagogue, anchoring the southern end of Szeroka Street. First erected in the early fifteenth century by Bohemian Jews who fled persecution in Prague, this is the oldest surviving Jewish house of prayer in Poland.
Key Facts
| Place | The Old Synagogue on Szeroka Street: Poland's Oldest Jewish House of Prayer |
|---|---|
| Address | ul. Szeroka 24, 31-053 Kraków, Poland |
| Geo Coordinates | 50.05140, 19.94860 |
| Part of Walk | Jewish Kazimierz: Synagogues, Scholars, and Bohemian Rebirth |
| Generated | Generated |
Stand before the red-brick battlements and Renaissance attic wall of the Old Synagogue, anchoring the southern end of Szeroka Street. First erected in the early fifteenth century by Bohemian Jews who fled persecution in Prague, this is the oldest surviving Jewish house of prayer in Poland. Integrated directly into the medieval defensive ramparts of Kazimierz, its thick masonry walls and defensive parapets allowed it to serve as a citadel during enemy sieges. After a devastating fire in 1557, Italian Renaissance master Matteo Gucci rebuilt the sanctuary with soaring twin-nave groin vaults supported by two slender Tuscan pillars.
The Old Synagogue was the supreme civic forum where the historic destiny of Polish Jewry was shaped for hundreds of years. Here, the Council of Four Lands, the autonomous parliament of Polish Jews, convened regular legislative sessions to arbitrate regional disputes. In 1794, national hero Tadeusz Kościuszko entered this prayer hall to address the Jewish community, rallying support for the Polish uprising against Russian tyranny. Kościuszko declared that all sons of Poland, regardless of faith, were equal brothers in the fight for liberty, inspiring Berek Joselewicz to form a Jewish cavalry regiment.
The interior features a magnificent wrought-iron bimah in the form of a delicate twelve-sided Renaissance baldachin, rising in the center of the hall. From this elevated podium, cantors chanted Torah portions for generations, their voices amplified by the acoustic perfection of Gucci's vaulting. Above the Ark of the Law, the stone wall still bears carvings of the crowned Polish eagle alongside the Lion of Judah. This architectural union testified to the deep civic loyalty that Krakow's Jews felt toward the Polish Commonwealth.
In 1939, German occupation forces ransacked the synagogue, stripping its copper roof, looting centuries-old silver ritual objects, and executing hostages against its outer wall. The vaulted ceiling collapsed, leaving a hollowed brick shell open to the winter sky. Between 1956 and 1959, Polish state restorers painstakingly rebuilt the structure according to historic blueprints, converting it into a department of the Museum of Krakow. Its galleries display rare holiday lamps, embroidered Torah mantles, and documents chronicling half a millennium of communal history.
Leave Szeroka Street by heading east along Dajwór Street, passing behind the Old Synagogue's eastern bastion. Ahead rises the massive red-brick water tower and chimney of the historic municipal gasworks.