Synagogue in Podmokly, Art Nouveau synagogue in Podmokly, Czech Republic.
The Synagogue in Podmokly stands at the foot of the Pastýřská stěna slope on Žižkova Street, built in 1907 in an Oriental Art Nouveau style. The prayer hall on the first floor holds the aron ha-kodesh at the eastern wall, a lead-crystal chandelier from Kamenický Šenov, and a women's gallery reached by a spiral staircase.
The Israelite Religious Community of Bodenbach built the synagogue in 1907 in an Oriental Art Nouveau style, on the slope of the Pastýřská stěna, and Rabbi Max Freund consecrated it that same year. In 1941 the Nazis occupied it and drew a map of England on its floor; it survived as the only building of its kind in the north of the country. The Jewish community, re-founded in 1993, recovered the building in 1996.
The community was founded on 30 July 1887 with 162 members, among them Siegmund Brauner and Karl Heller of Děčín and Gottfried Pick and Moritz Frankl of Weiher; factory owner Adolf Pächter led it and lent a garden pavilion on his button-factory grounds as a temporary synagogue. Services had been held in a private house since 1874, and in 1888 the burial society Chewra Kadischa was founded with Pick as chairman. The Torah scroll now in the ark was donated in 2005 by the Ostrava Jewish community, since Děčín's original scroll disappeared at the start of World War II.
The synagogue stands on the slope of Pastýřská stěna in Žižkova Street in Podmokly. The former women's gallery, reached by a spiral staircase, now hosts art exhibitions, and the cellar serves meetings of the Děčín Jewish community and its guests. The building is also used as an exhibition and concert hall.
In 1941 the Nazis occupied the synagogue and drew a map of England on its floor. It survived the war as the only building of its kind in the north of the country, and since 1996 it has again belonged to the Jewish community, which uses it for exhibitions and concerts.
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