Old Synagogue Krakow

The Old Synagogue is the oldest preserved monument of Jewish religious architecture in Poland. It was built in the 15th century as a two-nave hall with cross-ribbed vaults, supported on two pillars, and with a gable roof, which in its type of construction resembled the synagogues in Worms, Regensburg and Prague. In 1570 it was remodeled by the Florentine master builder Matteo Gucci. Its walls were crowned with an attic, which was used in this form for the first time in synagogue architecture in Poland. In the 2nd half of the 16th century and the 1st half of the 17th century, a porch, two prayer rooms for women and the house of the elders of the Jewish community in Kazimierz were added, together with which the synagogue fulfilled the function of the religious and administrative center of the Jewish community in Kazimierz. Before the 1st World War and after its end, the synagogue was restored in several stages, designed by Zygmunt Hendl in 1904, 1913 and 1923. In the years of the 2nd World War it served as a magazine for the Germans. Its equipment was destroyed or went missing. At the end of 1944 the vault, which may have been deliberately damaged, collapsed. In 1956 - 1959 the synagogue was restored and at the same time adapted to the intended museum use. On the basis of an agreement concluded on 30. 10. 1959 between the Jüdische Gemeinde in Kraków and the Historical Museum of the City of Kraków, the department of the Historical Museum for Jüdische History and Culture was established in the former synagogue.

From: http://www.museums.krakow.travel/de/museen/id,126,title,alte-synagoge.html