Tempel Synagogue: Kazimierz's Moorish Revival landmark

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The Tempel Synagogue was built in 1862 as the house of worship of Kraków's progressive (Reform) congregation — a Jewish milieu that from the mid-nineteenth century sought to modernise religious life: introducing prayers in Polish and German alongside Hebrew, sermons delivered by clergy in frock coats rather than traditional rabbinic dress, and mixed seating for men and women without a mechitza. This was an expression of the broader Reform movement that had taken shape in Germany from the 1820s and was reaching Galicia together with growing urbanisation and emancipation.

The building was financed by Kraków's prosperous Jewish bourgeoisie — merchants, lawyers, physicians, bankers — for whom the Orthodoxy of the Szeroka Street synagogues no longer matched their social aspirations. The architect Julius Hochberger designed the building in the Moorish Revival style, drawing on the great Western European Reform synagogues — in Frankfurt and Vienna — built in the same spirit. The horseshoe arches, glazed tiles in saturated colours, stained-glass rose windows, stucco garlands and gilding created an interior deliberately different from the modest Renaissance Old Synagogue.

In the second half of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth, the Tempel became the centre of Jewish modernity in Kraków. Sermons were delivered in Polish and German, a choir sang from the gallery to organ accompaniment. The synagogue hosted patriotic ceremonies — services on national holidays, commemorations of Polish heroes. It was at the Tempel that progressive Kraków Jews publicly demonstrated their attachment to Polish culture and their aspirations to civic integration.

During the Second World War the Germans ransacked the interior of the Tempel, removing liturgical furnishings, damaging the galleries and looting the decorations. The building itself survived, however, without major structural damage — a rare outcome for Polish synagogues. After the war it stood unused for decades; restoration work in the 1980s restored much of the interior's original character. Today the Tempel Synagogue belongs to an active Reform community and is regularly open to visitors.

The Jewish Culture Festival, held each year in June and July in Kazimierz, makes the Tempel one of its principal venues — concerts, lectures and ecumenical services attract participants from across the world.

The Tempel Synagogue is an example of Moorish Revival architecture in its Central European form — a style popular among the builders of large nineteenth-century Reform synagogues as a deliberate contrast with the Gothic of churches and the Classicism of town halls. The facade on Miodowa Street, though more restrained than the interior, signals its identity through the horseshoe arched windows and glazed tile superstructure.

The interior is three-aisled, with a women's gallery running along three sides of the main nave. The gallery columns are decorated with capitals in Moorish plant-motif treatment. The barrel vault of the main nave carries rich stucco decoration with geometric and floral motifs in gold, cream and terracotta. The windows of the apse contain stained glass with plant motifs rather than figurative scenes — in keeping with Jewish tradition. The Aron HaKodesh, set in the eastern apse, is flanked by pilasters with gilded capitals.

The organ — originally installed in the nineteenth century and restored after the war — stands on the western gallery and is still used during Reform services. It is one of the very few liturgically active preserved synagogue organs in Poland.

The Tempel Synagogue is an active house of worship of the Reform congregation, and is simultaneously open to visitors. Head covering is not obligatory — Reform Judaism does not require it, though some men choose to wear a kippah out of respect. There is no mechitza: men and women sit together in the main nave.

Photography is permitted; discretion is appropriate toward those at prayer. A donation on entry is customary — a box is provided by the door. Opening hours vary by season and in line with the service schedule; current information is available through the Tempel Synagogue Kraków or the Jewish Culture Festival.

Dress should be appropriate — shoulders covered. The synagogue regularly organises themed guided visits and cultural evenings as part of the Kazimierz programme.

Zasady wizyty:

• • Nakrycie głowy mężczyzn: nie wymagane
• • Separacja płci: nie
• • Fotografia: dozwolona
• • Datek: oczekiwany

The Tempel Synagogue is at ul. Miodowa 24, three hundred metres from the Old Synagogue and four hundred metres from the Remuh Synagogue. The Mercedes V-Class drops passengers directly on Miodowa from Starowiślna or Dietla. Parking: Plac Nowy (350 m), Bożego Ciała Street (250 m). Walking time from the Main Market Square is twenty-five minutes.