Archbishop's Palace, Mahilioŭ, Former archbishop's palace and synagogue on Leninskaya Street, Mahilioŭ, Belarus
The Archbishop's Palace in Mahilioŭ is a two-storey brick building of the 1780s, rectangular in plan with two small side wings under a hipped roof, aligned on one axis with the Stanisław church. Its main facade faces the Dnieper and has three flat risalits: the central one topped by a rectangular attic, the side ones by triangular pediments. The ground floor is rusticated, the upper floor marked by pilasters; the west wing held a two-storey palace chapel.
Built in the 1780s of brick, the palace served as the residence of Catholic archbishop Stanisław Bohusz-Siestrzeńcewicz until 1827. After a fire reduced its size, the Jewish merchant Baruch Tsukerman bought the ruins in the second half of the 19th century and rebuilt them as the central Choral Synagogue, opened in 1900. Closed in 1925, the building later housed a cinema and trade unions.
The building's name recalls two uses: it was the residence of Catholic archbishop Stanisław Bohusz-Siestrzeńcewicz until 1827, then from 1900 the Choral Synagogue, also called Tsukerman Synagogue after merchant Baruch Tsukerman, who rebuilt it. A memorial plaque on the facade tells of the palace, not the synagogue.
The building stands at 25 Leninskaya Street, its end facade facing the street and its main facade turned toward the Dnieper. It is now a children's and youth sports school, so the interior is not open as a museum; the memorial plaque on the wall recounts the history of the palace, not of the synagogue.
A memorial plaque on the building tells the story of the archbishop's palace but says nothing about the synagogue, so the Jewish chapter of the building's past goes unmarked. The building now houses Specialised Children's and Youth Sports School No. 6, and the authorities have refused to return it to the local Jewish community, citing the social needs of Mahilioŭ's residents.
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