Szydłów Synagogue was an

Orthodox Judaism Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

synagogue in

Szydłów Szydłów is a fortified town in Staszów County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in southeastern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Szydłów. It lies approximately west of Staszów and south-east of th ...

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 ...

. It was built in 1534–1564 as a

fortress synagogue A fortress synagogue is a synagogue built to withstand attack while protecting the lives of people sheltering within it. Fortress synagogues first appeared in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th century at a time of frequent invasions ...

with heavy

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...

es on all sides.Survey of Historic Jewish Monuments in Poland, Samuel Gruber and Phyllis Myers, Report to the President's Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, Jewish Heritage Council World Monuments Fund, Nov. 1995, p. 46 The synagogue was devastated by

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. During the war it served as a weapons and food magazine. After the war, it briefly served as a village cinema, but was eventually abandoned. The building was renovated in the 1960s for use as a library and cultural centre. The

women's gallery The Women's Gallery was a collectively established and run art gallery in Wellington, New Zealand, showing only the work of women, that ran for four years between 1980 and 1984. History In 1977, artist Joanna Paul developed a project called " ...

served as a town library while the main floor was a cultural center. In 1995 the library was closed due to budget cuts and the building stood in need of repair, especially to the roof, which was leaking. The renovation altered the building's exterior appearance, but the interior was preserved intact. The original, built-in, masonry

Torah Ark A Torah ark (also known as the ''Heikhal'', or the ''Aron Kodesh'') refers to an ornamental chamber in the synagogue that houses the Torah scrolls. History The ark, also known as the ''ark of law'', or in Hebrew the ''Aron Kodesh'' or ''aron ha- ...

is particularly notable. The first official inventory of important buildings in Poland, ''A General View of the Nature of Ancient Monuments in the Kingdom of Poland,'' led by Kazimierz Stronczynski from 1844 to 1855, describes the Szydłów Synagogue as one of Poland's architecturally notable buildings.''Heaven's Gates; Wooden synagogues in the Territories of the Former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth'', maria and Kazimierz Piechotka, Wydawnictwo Krupski i S-ka, Warsaw, 2004, p. 174

References

20th-century attacks on synagogues and Jewish communal organizations Former synagogues in Poland Jewish museums in Poland 16th-century synagogues Synagogues preserved as museums Fortress synagogues Staszów County Buildings and structures in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship Holocaust locations in Poland Orthodox synagogues in Poland {{Poland-synagogue-stub