Tykocin Synagogue

Interior of Tykocin (Poland) synagogue I

The impressive synagogue that has survived until today was built in 1642 in the place of a wooden temple from the 15th century, in the center of the Jewish district – Kaczorowo. It is a nine-section temple with a chapel-like bimah. This is the type that developed at the beginning of the 17th century in the south-east part of the Commonwealth.

It is assumed that the design of the Tykocin synagogue could be based on the fortified Pińsk synagogue, built in 1640. The massive, stone building in the late-Renaissance-Baroque style was based on a rectangular ground plan, size: 18 x 18 m. Initially, the synagogue had a concave roof with an attic, but it burnt down in the 18th c. and was replaced with a mansard roof, in the Baroque style.

From three sides the building is adjacent to one-storey extensions, which housed two women's galleries and a vestibule, which was the seat of the cheder as well as a meeting room for the court and kehilla. The rectangular prayer hall is located lower than the vestibule. The two-storey bimah, located in the center, is surrounded by four pillars that converge, becoming a support for the ceiling. On the east wall there is a stone frame of the Torah ark, while the remaining walls contained polychromies with Hebrew inscriptions as well as images of plants and animals.

During the WWI the Germans partially devastated the synagogue, using it as a warehouse; they also stole some of the rich furnishings, e.g. the famous curtains. After the war, a fertilizers warehouse was located in the building. In 1965, part of the building was destroyed in a fire, however, it was renovated in the 1970s. In 1977, the Provincial Conservator of Monuments in Białystok undertook comprehensive restoration work; afterward, the building was commissioned to the District Museum in Tykocin, which is a branch of the Białystok Museum.

The museum organizes temporary exhibitions and staged observation of Jewish holidays, as well as concerts.

Choir at Tykocin Synagogue in Poland