Obj. ID: 24602
Jewish Architecture Synagogue in Kasejovice, Czech Republic
Samuel Gruber wrote about this synagogue on his blog:
"The synagogue was built in the center of the ghetto in the early 1760's, but in 1793 it was damaged by fire and probably only partially rebuilt. Around 1830 it was adapted to the existing structure, built in a late Baroque style by J. Suda, local master mason It remained in use until the 1920's when the community merged with that of Horazdovice.
After the synagogue closed a private historical collection, which included Judaica, was stored there and during the Second World War the building was used as a storage place for Jewish assets collected by the Germans. most of the Judaicaca items were subseqeuntly transferred to the Prague Jewish Musuem. In the years following the Velvet Revolution in 1989, the building was reconstructed and it opened to the public as a town museum in 1994. The museum includes an ethnographic and ceramics collection, and a small exhibition devoted to the Jewish history of the town.
One reaches the synagogue sanctuary by climbing a flight of stairs and then entering a large vaulted space. Large unusual bell-shaped windows allow in ample natural light. The sanctuary plan is almost square. Presumably there was a central bimah, which is gone. There is no longer a mechitza (divider) to separate space for men and women, but seating for women was probably on the west side, under a large vault, lit by four large windows. There is information that there were 66 seats for men and 45 for women, which suggests that women played an important part in the community. All the seats were burned during the Second World War and there are no known photos of the pre-war interior arrangement.
Opposite the stair is the ark wall, where an impressive Baroque ark remains in place. Four columns support a curved entablature which turns outward at each end, with "arms" reaching toward the sanctuary. Marble obelisks supported by carved balls are set upon the entablature, over the columns.
Surmounting the ark is the inscription "TORAH TZIVAH LANU MOSHE MORASHAH KEHILAT YAAKOV" from Deuteronomy 33:4 (The Torah that Moshe commanded us is the heritage of the congregation of Yaakov). A painted Decalogue is attached above this that only lists the Commandments by number, and uses the Roman numerals I-X. This is an arrangement for the Decalogue that is relatively common in the Czech Republic.
The painting of the sanctuary has been restored, but it apparently follows the older patterns, probably from the late 19th or early 20th century. "
Source: http://samgrubersjewishartmonuments.blogspot.com/2020/04/czech-republic-visit-to-kasejovice.html
sub-set tree:
Dorfman, Rivka and Ben-Zion. Synagogues without Jews and the Communities that Built and Used Them (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 2000)
Fiedler, Jiří. Jewish Sights of Bohemia and Moravia (Prague:Sefer, 1991)