Synagogue in Końskie (1931-01-01 - 1939-09-12) by Łukasz Polewczyk [GLB]

The Końskie Synagogue –wooden synagogue from the 18th century in Końskie Poland currently no longer standing. It was destroyed by the Germans during World War II in 1939, on the the first day after the town was occupied by Hitler’s forces. The synagogue was built in 1780 at the request of the local Jewish community (qahal). It was a single-story wooden structure with log construction and foxes, featuring a separate prayer room for women (woman section), and a two-story roof in the central part topped with a dome.

Author of the project is unknown. It underwent several renovations throughout its history. Around the turn of the 20th century, before 1905, the western gallery and the outer spans of the side wings were covered with boarding. The stairs to the women's section were illuminated by windows: four inserted into the western wall and one in the outer span of the southern gallery. A narrow women's gallery was incorporated into the hall, along its western wall, accessible through a small hallway on the upper floor, with stairs inserted into the two outer spans of the northern gallery. Before 1911, the wooden external western wall and the outer spans of the side wings were replaced with masonry walls. The main hall was covered by a large, two-story, octagonal dome that was intricately integrated with the two-story roof structure.

The digital reconstruction from 2023 is based mainly on the survey drawings mad by Janusz Eugeniusz Kahl and Romuald Pieńkowski during their studies in 1931-32, drawing from Maria and Kazimierz Piechotka’s book “Heaven’s Gates. Wooden Synagogues in the Territories of the Former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth”.