Accommodation near Izaak Synagogue Cracow

Izaak Synagogue

The Izaak Synagogue or Isaac Synagogue, formally known as the Isaak Jakubowicz Synagogue, is a Prayerhouse built in 1644 in the historic Kazimierz District of Kraków, Poland. The synagogue is named for its donor, Izaak Jakubowicz (d. 1673), also called Isaac the Rich, a banker to King Władysław IV. The synagogue was designed by Francesco Olivierri, an Italian working in Poland in that era. Jakubowicz is buried in the Remuh Cemetery. Variants of the name include Ayzik, Izaak, and Isaac. Izaak is the standard Polish spelling, while Jakubowicz is Polish for a "Son of Jacob."

History

On 5 December 1939, the Gestapo came to the Kraków Judenrat building and ordered, Maximilian Redlich, the Jewish official on duty that day to burn the scrolls of the Torah. When Redlich refused he was shot dead.

Nazis destroyed the interior and furnishings, including the bimah and Aron Kodesh. After the war, the building was used by a sculpture and conservation atelier and then by a theatre company as workshop space and for the storage of props.until recently it was an exhibition space. A fire in 1981 damaged the interior. A renovation was begun in 1983 and in 1989, with the fall of communism in Poland, the building was returned to the Jewish community. It is now a practicing Orthodox Synaogue once again.