The Łańcut Synagogue is a

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

synagogue in

Łańcut Łańcut (, approximately "wine-suit"; yi, לאַנצוט, Lantzut; uk, Ла́ньцут, Lánʹtsut; german: Landshut) is a town in south-eastern Poland, with 18,004 inhabitants, as of 2 June 2009. Situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship (si ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. The Łańcut Synagogue is a rare surviving example of the vaulted synagogues with a ''bimah-tower'', that were built throughout the Polish lands in masonry from the sixteenth through the early nineteenth centuries. The

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

was renovated in the mid-20th century, and underwent renovations in the years 1983-1990.

Architecture

The synagogue is a simple Baroque, masonry building with a vestibule and side room, main hall and a women's balcony above the vestibule reached by an exterior staircase.Carol Herselle Krinsky, ''Synagogues of Europe: Architecture, History, Meaning'', 1985, 1996, p. 209–211 ff, The windows of the main hall are unusually large for a Polish synagogue; Krinsky believes that this may reflect the security of the Jews in Łańcut, who lived under the protection of the landowning family. The synagogue is built with eight, barrel-vaulted bays around a central Bimah, the four, massive, masonry pillars of which support the ceiling and roof. Painted, decorative plasterwork adorns the pillar capitals, ceiling, and walls. The floor in the restored building is made of concrete. The walls are decorated reproductions of the pre-war paintings. They feature traditional Jewish subjects, such as Noah and the Ark, symbols of the

Zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the Sun path, apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. ...

, and images of musical instruments mentioned in the

Book of Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...

.Carol Herselle Krinsky, ''Synagogues of Europe: Architecture, History, Meaning'', 1985, 1996, p. 209–211, .

Images

Image:Łańcut synagoga 01.JPG, Exterior Image:Łańcut synagoga 03.jpg,

Stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

decorations of Bimah Image:Łańcut synagoga 04.jpg, Animal and landscape wall decoration of women's section Image:Łańcut synagoga 05.jpg, Ornate frescoes with Hebrew texts

References

External links

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Jewish Memorials in Eastern Poland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lancut Synagogue Former synagogues in Poland Jewish museums in Poland Religious buildings and structures completed in 1761 Baroque synagogues in Poland 18th-century synagogues Synagogues preserved as museums Łańcut County Buildings and structures in Podkarpackie Voivodeship Museums in Podkarpackie Voivodeship