The Old Synagogue of Rymanów (Synagoga w Rymanowie)

The story

One of the rare fortified synagogues of the Polish borderlands, built of brick, river stone and sandstone and worked into the town's defences, with a northwest tower that served as the kahal prison. Jews are recorded in Rymanów from the mid-16th century, and by 1765 its kahal was the third largest in the Sanok region. A 1920 renovation added Viennese Secession detailing to what was already a centuries-old defensive building. The Germans vandalised it and used it to store looted property and grain; it was damaged again in the 1944 fighting and then used as a Soviet military hospital. The roof was dismantled after the war and a 1957 fire gutted the remains. Demolition was proposed and stone was carted off for road-building until the conservator Stefan Stefański intervened. Ownership passed to the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in 2005, and on 28 May 2005 a service was held inside for the first time in over sixty years. Fragments of the original wall paintings survive. The commonly cited 1772 date is a permit record, not the construction date; sources place the building in the late 16th to 17th century.

Everything that was here

• Date unknown · still open

  The Old Synagogue of Rymanów (Synagoga w Rymanowie)Synagogue

  A fortress-synagogue that stood roofless for nearly fifty years, was slated for demolition, and held its first service in more than sixty years in 2005.

Did you know?

Connected places

Explore the full web of connections on the map.

Nearby history