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© Center for Jewish Art, Photographer: Dashevskii, D., 1991
Name/Title
Great Synagogue in Chortkiv | Unknown
Object Detail
Settings
Unknown
Date
1771 (building), 1921 (wall paintings)
Active dates
Reconstruction dates
Artist/ Maker
Unknown (Unknown)
Historical Origin
Unknown
Community type
Congregation
Unknown
Site
Unknown
School/Style
Period
Unknown
Period Detail
Collection
Unknown |
Documentation / Research project
Unknown
Material / Technique
Material Stucture
Material Decoration
Material Bonding
Material Inscription
Material Additions
Material Cloth
Material Lining
Tesserae Arrangement
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Colors
Construction material
Measurements
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Panel Measurements
Condition
Extant
Documented by CJA
Surveyed by CJA
Present Usage
Present Usage Details
Condition of Building Fabric
Architectural Significance type
Historical significance: Event/Period
Historical significance: Collective Memory/Folklore
Historical significance: Person
Architectural Significance: Style
Architectural Significance: Artistic Decoration
Urban significance
Significance Rating
Textual Content
Unknown |
Languages of inscription
Unknown
Shape / Form
Unknown
0
Ornamentation
Custom
Contents
Codicology
Scribes
Script
Number of Lines
Ruling
Pricking
Quires
Catchwords
Hebrew Numeration
Blank Leaves
Direction/Location
Façade (main)
Endivances
Location of Torah Ark
Location of Apse
Location of Niche
Location of Reader's Desk
Location of Platform
Temp: Architecture Axis
Arrangement of Seats
Location of Women's Section
Direction Prayer
Direction Toward Jerusalem
Coin
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Signature
Colophon
Scribal Notes
Watermark
Hallmark
Group
Group
Group
Group
Group
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Summary and Remarks
Remarks
Suggested Reconsdivuction
History/Provenance

In 1739 and 1765 the community paid the owner of the town, Potocki, for the right to build a synagogue. The actual building started in 1754. The main donor was an artisan Meir Katz, who received, because of his donation, the right to participate in the election of the community officials. In 1770 the building of the synagogue was not finished yet, and the community decided to sale the places in order to raise additional funds. The inscription on the entrance to the prayer hall shows the date 1771. In 1779 the building was not completed, especially the staircase to the women's section, and a new fundraising had place. The local legends attributed the building of the synagogue to the Polish King Jan III Sobieski (1674-1696), or to the 16th century, or to the Middle Ages. According to one of the legends, the founding stone of the building was put by a Christian priest, and because of it the first prayers of the synagogue converted into Christianity (probably this is the echo of the Frankists conversion in 1759). Another legend is connected to the finishing of the building. It says that when during the Hungarian rebellion of 1848 the Russian army moved through Chortkov to Hungary, the building was rented to it, and the received rent was used to build the "dome of the synagogue". In 1781 a room next to the entrance was rented by the society of tailors Poalei Tzedek as their prayer house (it was called bizem keshene). By the tradition, there was no mezuzah on the door of the synagogue. Another tradition prohibited to light candles in memory of the dead during the Yamim Noraim before Yom Kippur. These traditions were probably connected to believe, that the dead souls gather in the synagogue for slihot prayer during the Yamim Noraim. In 1921 the building underwent repair. In the 1960s the building was used as a grain storage depot.

Main Surveys & Excavations
Bibliography
Sonnenschein Ephraim, "Pinkas Kehilat Chortkuv" in: Yehshayahu Austri-Dunn (ed.), Sefer Chortkuv lehantzhat kdoshei kehilat chortkuv (Haifa – Tel-Aviv, 1967), pp. 37-38, 46-48; Zvi Be-Zion, "Beit hakneset hagadol" in: Yehshayahu Austri-Dunn (ed.), Sefer Chortkuv lehantzhat kdoshei kehilat chortkuv (Haifa – Tel-Aviv, 1967), pp. 169-170.
Short Name
Full Name
Volume
Page
Type
Documenter
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Author of description
Vladimir Levin | 2015
Architectural Drawings
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Computer Reconstruction
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Section Head
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Language Editor
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Donor
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Negative/Photo. No.
A163756