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Obj. ID: 13535
Jewish Architecture
  Beit Midrash Hevra Tehilim in Kraków, Poland

© Center for Jewish Art, Photographer: Khaimovich, Boris, 1995

The Hevra Tehilim (Psalm Brotherhood) house of prayer is located at 18 Meiselsa Street (registered property no. 124; at the corner of Meiselsa St. and 13 Bożego Ciała St.).

It was built in 1896 according to an undetermined design carried out under the supervision of a famous Kraków architect of Jewish origin by the name Nachman Kopald. The structure is distinguished by its eclectic features with elements done in Rundbogenstyle. It is a story building with two rows of rooms built as a quadrilateral. The front façade to Meiselsa Street has ten bays, while the side façade has five. Its tall plinth and stories are separated by cornices. The ground floor above the plinth has horizontal rustic work. The ground floor arched and molded windows with bands between them are topped with wide rounded molded cornices supported by brackets. The second story rectangular windows placed in half-round recesses have cornices just like those on the ground floor and are separated from the ground floor by a course of wall. Beneath the windows are decorative panels with a floral motif. The coping consists of a projecting arched and bracketed cornice.

In the post-war years the building housed the seat of the “Krakowiacy” Singing and Dancing Group (Polish: Zespół Pieśni i Tańca “Krakowiacy"). When, in 2001, under the act of 1997 on the restitution of Jewish property, the synagogue was returned to the Jewish Community of Kraków, its president Tadeusz Jakubowicz allowed the Group to still occupy the building provided that it would considerably improve its condition. Despite this stipulation, the Group’s management board claimed that the synagogue was very well preserved, and the interior was renovated in stages for the money given by the city of Kraków. The management board stated that it could not afford new windows and a thorough renovation of the roof; the city, on the other hand, refused to allocate money in this case because it was not the owner of the synagogue. The Group ceased to occupy the building in 2006.   

Valuable wall polychrome paintings with prevailing blue and green colors and with references mainly to Biblical scenes were discovered in the synagogue in 2008. Images of four Biblical animals including a lion, a tiger, a fragment of an eagle and a deer have been preserved in ornamental frames on the west wall, at the women’s gallery level. Apart from that, a Hebrew inscription reading “A candle of soul,” a fragment of a view of Jerusalem and numerous ornamentations and friezes with floral motifs have been preserved at the same height.

A recess for the Aron ha-Kodesh with surrounding fragments of a red curtain has been preserved on the east wall of the main prayer hall. On the north wall contained in ornamental floral frames are four pictures depicting holy places: Jerusalem, the Rachel’s Tomb with a fragment of an inscription, a view of Jerusalem with an inscription and a much damaged piece showing the Western Wall with remains of an inscription. Right at the ceiling there is a frieze presenting a floral motif, the windows are surrounded with decorative motifs of crimson-red flowers, while every two windows there is a vertical frieze showing a floral decorative element as well. The splays of the windows have similar friezes. On the north wall right at the women’s gallery level there is a polychrome fragment with a panoramic view of Jerusalem which is a continuation of the decoration from the gallery’s level. On a slight projection of both the north and south walls there are two columns of empty square niches in which the tables were probably kept.

Summary and Remarks
Remarks

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Name/Title
Beit Midrash Hevra Tehilim in Kraków | Unknown
Object Detail
Monument Setting
Unknown
Date
1896
Synagogue active dates
Reconstruction dates
After 1945
Historical Origin
Unknown
Community type
Congregation
Unknown
Location
Site
Unknown
School/Style
Period
Unknown
Period Detail
Collection
Unknown |
Documentation / Research project
Unknown
Iconographical Subject
Unknown |
Textual Content
Unknown |
Languages of inscription
Unknown
Shape / Form
Unknown
Material / Technique
Material Stucture
Material Decoration
Material Bonding
Material Inscription
Material Additions
Material Cloth
Material Lining
Tesserae Arrangement
Density
Colors
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Measurements
Height
Length
Width
Depth
Circumference
Thickness
Diameter
Weight
Axis
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

Wall paintings

Urban significance
Significance Rating
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
Coin Series
Coin Ruler
Coin Year
Denomination
Signature
Colophon
Scribal Notes
Watermark
Hallmark
Group
Group
Group
Group
Group
Trade Mark
Binding
Decoration Program
Suggested Reconsdivuction
History/Provenance
Main Surveys & Excavations
Sources
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Architectural Drawings
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Computer Reconstruction
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The following information on this monument will be completed:
Unknown |