Unimaginable. The Void after the Great Synagogues

Name: Unimaginable. The Void after the Great Synagogues
Start: 2025-11-30
End: 2026-08-31
Location: Galicia Jewish Museum

Nov 30 - Aug 31 2026 ul. Dajwór 18

Wielka Synagoga w Warszawie

Nowa Synagoga w Częstochowie

source: Z kolekcji Artura Szyndlera

Nowa Synagoga we Wrocławiu

Nowa Synagoga w Szczecinie

Synagoga Nowa w Tarnowie (Jubileuszowa), source: Z kolekcji Marka Tomaszewskiego

This exhibit remembers the Great Synagogues that loomed large within urban centres across Poland before World War II. While the Jewish population of almost every small town in Poland had at least one synagogue, if not several, a trend of building monumental 'Grand' or 'Great' synagogues began in the late 19th and early-20th centuries. These massive edifices, ranging in style from Neo-Gothic to Moorish, were symbols of strength and prosperity, not only of the communities they represented, but the cities like Warsaw, Poznań and Wrocław, where they were integral parts of the urban landscape.

Casualties of Nazi hatred, violence and destruction, unlike much of Poland's damaged architectural treasures, these remarkable buildings were not rebuilt after World War II. Physically absent from the cities they once stood out in, these grand edifices are also largely absent from the collective consciousness today. This exhibit honours their memory and attempts to educate viewers about these lost treasures. Focusing on 13 cities across Poland, these grand synagogues are once again seen in the exhibit's engravings, photographs, artefacts, maps, witness accounts and other documentation. In some cases, virtual representations and 3D renderings have been created to transport the viewer into these vanished spaces.