We would like to invite you to an exhibition dedicated to the monumental synagogues built mostly in the 19th and early 20th centuries, in a variety of styles ranging from Neo-Gothic to Moorish. The exhibition draws attention to the scale of destruction of pre-war monuments of sacred architecture. The reasons for the annihilation of these remarkable buildings were hatred and violence — hatred toward everything Jewish, and violence against people and their material culture. Destroyed and — from today’s perspective — unimaginable, these beautiful, monumental synagogues were never rebuilt after World War II.

Bringing together examples from 13 cities across Poland, the exhibition serves both as a commemoration and as an act of education about a heritage lost forever. Opening the exhibition on the 86th anniversary of the burning of the Great Synagogue in Oświęcim — an event that took place on the night of November 29–30, 1939 — is a deliberate gesture shifting the focus from the date of violence to an act of remembrance.

The exhibition is presented in Polish and English. Free admission.

This project is co-financed by the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Krakow.