Obj. ID: 20026
Jewish Architecture Piaskower Beit Midrash in Białystok, Poland
Text from the Virtual Shtetl Website:
In the Piaski district there is a synagogue known as the Piaskower Bejt Midrasz; it was erected it the years 1891-93 in place of an older, wooden synagogue from 1820, which had been taken apart before 1890. The building has an irregular architectural layout with the main hall constructed on an almost square ground plan and lit with electrical light.
Building located in a series of buildings along Piękna Street, made of brick, plastered, no cellar. Built with a rectangular ground plan, the building is a rectangular prism covered with a gabled roof topped with metal sheet.
A two-bay interior, previously a single space, currently the south-western part is two-storey with a modern interior design. Roof held up by two cast iron columns. One-flight staircase originally led to the gallery, currently – to the office rooms.
The façade facing Piękna Street, two-storey, septo-axial. Cornice in between the storeys, the body finished with a slight cordon cornice. The outer axes marked with slight avant-corps. Windows of the second storey framed with wide lesene stripes. Entrances on the outer axes on first storey set within a semi-circular arch. Third entrance located on the central axis. Rectangular windows, with segmental finish.
Smooth side façades, plastered, each with three buttresses.
Side parallel to the façade with a rectangular annex from the north. Façade plastered, smooth, one-storey high penta-axial with no architectural divisions. Rectangular entrance in an avant-corps covered with a dome sector. Windows set within a semi-circular arch with original wood-work.
Installations: electricity, gas, sewage system, central heating.
Edifice constructed on the iniciative of Icchok and Alme Jaczmienik, Kaltun, Małki, Daniel Ostryński, Jerusz Rozenthal, Oliezer Słobocki, Cwi Wilsztyk, Mojsze Wilmar and Cwi Zew Mazewicz. The synagogue was located on the Mojżesz Nowik Square; it was fully canalized and lit with 73 lamps. It also had an in-house religious school Talmud Torah.
Still standing today are the two cast iron columns supporting the women’s gallery. The building, partially destroyed during occupation, served as the seat of Jewish organizations which operated in Białystok in1945-68, such as the Towarzystwo Społeczno-Kulturalne Żydów w Polsce (Socio-cultural Association of Jews in Poland).
From 1968 on, it was abandoned and in a gradually worsening state and eventually burned down in 1989. During renovation works carried out in the 1970’s it lost its characteristics of a synagogue and functioned as a movie theatre, a theatre and a cultural center. Restored in 1955, it currently serves as the premises of institutions like L. Zamenhoff’s Foundation. One can purchase textbooks and literature in Esperanto and also attend a language course.
sub-set tree:
The building, partially destroyed during occupation, served as the seat of Jewish organizations which operated in Białystok in 1945-68, such as the Towarzystwo Społeczno-Kulturalne Żydów w Polsce (Socio-cultural Association of Jews in Poland).