Archive |
RARE FIND IN SMÍCHOV SYNAGOGUE
A
large portion of the Museum’s resources goes towards the renovation
of Jewish monuments. This includes the overall reconstruction of the
synagogue in the Smíchov district of Prague, which, as of next year,
will serve as the Museum’s archive and depository. On Friday 23 January,
we came across a rare find during building work on this site – a memorial
parchment document, which had been placed under the original clay slate
floor at the base of the right column in front of the ark on the occasion
of the building’s completion on 30 August 1863. This document is of
particular interest, both in terms of content and execution: it is divided
into 12 sections, of which each is inscribed and decorated in a different
style and with different lettering – from classic Empire patterns with
fine linear drawings to Neo-Gothic script and naturalistic ornamentation.
The text itself commemorates the long history of the Smíchov Jewish
community, which dates back to the mid-18th century, and its long-term
endeavour to have its own synagogue built. The document was executed
by the well-known Jewish portraitist and lithographer from Prague, Josef
Bindeles (1826-1914).
The
completion of the new synagogue in the Romanesque and Moorish style
was supervised by Ignatz Kapper and Filip Kaufmann and was financially
supported by the then mayor of Smíchov, industrialist and member of
the Provincial Assembly, František Ringhofer. To mark the completion
of the building, a memorial document (the one that has just been found)
was drawn up and signed on the back by the fourteen members of the Jewish
community’s representative body.
This August, the Smíchov Synagogue will celebrate its 140th anniversary.
The memorial document will be kept at the Museum, but, after completion
of repair work , a copy, together with other documents on the history
and reconstruction of the synagogue will be placed where the original
item was found – in memory of those who built the synagogue and for
the benefit of future generations.
© 2004 - 2008 Jewish Museum in Prague