The Sejny synagogue is a former synagogue in

Sejny Sejny ( lt, Seinai) is a town in north-eastern Poland and the capital of Sejny County, in Podlaskie Voivodeship, close to the northern border with Lithuania and Belarus. It is located in the eastern part of the Suwałki Lake Area ( pl, Pojezier ...

, Poland, also called the White Synagogue in Sejny.

History

The large, Neo-baroque style building on Pilsudskiego Street was erected in the 1860s, replacing an older building. It was used by the Nazis as a fire station, the interior was gutted and all furnishings were destroyed. It was restored - with a plain, modern interior - in 1987 and now serves as a cultural center, theater and museum.Survey of Historic Jewish Monuments in Poland, Samuel Gruber and Phyllis Myers, Report to the Presidents Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, Jewish Heritage Council World Monuments Fund, Nov. 1995, p. 46 Called the ''Borderland Foundation'' (Fundacja Pogranicze), the foundation and its cultural center are dedicated to the cultures of the region: Polish, Lithuanian, Belarusian, Jewish, Ukrainian and Russian. A

Klezmer Klezmer ( yi, קלעזמער or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for l ...

band is based at the cultural center. The nineteenth century

yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are s ...

building also survives, and is also used by the Borderland Foundation.

Images

* Nineteenth century postcard of Sejny synagogue and yeshiva

External links

* Borderland Foundation

References

{{Coord, 54.106, N, 23.349, E, scale:10000_source:plwiki, display=title Former synagogues in Poland Baroque Revival synagogues Sejny County Buildings and structures in Podlaskie Voivodeship Holocaust locations in Poland