Ahawat Torah Synagogue

The Ahawat Torah Synagogue, or "Love of the Torah", stood in Kazimierz at ul. Józefa 22. The building survives today, but as a tenement house with flats, not as a house of prayer.

What the Ahawat Torah Synagogue was

The Ahawat Torah Synagogue was a house of prayer built at the beginning of the 20th century in Kraków's former Jewish quarter. The name means in translation from Hebrew "Love of the Torah". According to Wikipedia it stood at ul. Józefa 22, and the year 1900 is given as the date of its construction.

The occupation and the later fate of the building

During the Second World War the synagogue was devastated by the Germans. This was part of a wider process: before the war at least 90 synagogues and houses of prayer operated in Kraków, and after the occupation began most of them were destroyed or turned into warehouses. After the war the building at Józefa 22 was converted into flats.

What remains of its former function

Nothing of the original furnishings has survived. The only element that reveals the former character of the building is two small windows with semicircular heads on the second floor of the tenement house. The interiors are now private flats and are not open to visitors.

For those interested in the Jewish heritage of Kazimierz, an active synagogue open to visitors nearby is the Old Synagogue, about 300 m away.

Practical information

• Address: ul. Józefa 22, Kraków, Kazimierz.
• The building can be viewed only from the outside, from the street. It is an inhabited tenement house, so keep quiet and do not enter the staircase.
• Look for the two windows with semicircular heads on the second floor, as they are the only visible trace of the synagogue.
• Plan visits to the working Jewish museums in Kazimierz according to the hours given by their managers.