Obj. ID: 19520  Old Synagogue in Częstochowa, Poland

This is the only existing interior photograph of the synagogue, published in Żydzi w Polsce odrodzonej: Działalność społeczna, gospodarcza, oświatowa i kulturalna, Ignacy Schiper,  Arje Tartakower and Aleksander Hafftka eds., vol. 2 (Warsaw, 1932), p. 379. According to the caption belonging to the published photograph, the painting was made by the artist Willenberg.

The photograph shows the ceiling of the prayer hall which is decorated with extensive paintings including many separate compositions. The tier next to the west (?) wall contains at least four identical conpositions of two griffins flanking a central field. The central part of the ceiling is occupied by two large circles with a large Magen David inside of them and a large round composition inside of each Magen David. The right conposition could be identified as the Tablets of the Law at Mt. Sinai, while the left one is undescernible. Each of six points of MAgen David includes a round field with a depiction of a tree. A rosette occupies the space between two large circles. 

In the space "beneath" the circles, it is possible to descern the rectangular depiction of the Rachel's Tomb, inscribed קבר רחל flanked by two rectangular pictures illustrating Psalm 150, incsribed הללוהו בתף ומחול and הללוהו במנים ועגב, and surmounted by a circle with a depictino of a tree.