The Dolní Kounice Synagogue ( cs, Synagoga v Dolních Kounicích) is a synagogue in

Dolní Kounice Dolní Kounice (; german: Kanitz) is a town in Brno-Country District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,500 inhabitants. Geography Dolní Kounice is situated about south of Brno in the valley of the Jihlava River. ...

in the

South Moravian Region The South Moravian Region ( cs, Jihomoravský kraj; , ; sk, Juhomoravský kraj) is an administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the south-western part of its historical region of Moravia (an exception is Jobova Lhota which trad ...

of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. It was built in 1652–1655.

History

First traces of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

settlement in Dolní Kounice are from half of 15th century. The first written mention of a synagogue here comes from 1581. The old synagogue was located on eastern part of the village and was destroyed by Swedish troops during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle ...

in 1645. A new one has been built in the middle of the new ghetto in 1652–1655. It was built in the

Baroque style The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

and is one of the oldest synagogues in

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The m ...

. The building has rectangular ground plan and two floors. In the middle of the 19th century, new tract was added and used to extends tribune for women. In the early 1940s, Nazis closed down the religious services and moved the decorations to the

Jewish Museum in Prague The Jewish Museum in Prague (Czech: Židovské muzeum v Praze) is a museum of Jewish heritage in the Czech Republic and one of the most visited museums in Prague. Its collection of Judaica is one of the largest in the world, about 40,000 objects ...

. After the war the building was used as storehouse. In 1991 it was returned, as a part of restitutions, to the Jewish community in Brno. In 1994 the synagogue was reconstructed.

Present

Today the synagogue hosts small collection of Jewish historical artefacts and art exhibitions.

Gallery

DK-synagoga-starsi.zenska.tribuna.JPG DK-synagoga-predek.salu.JPG DK-synagoga-nova.zenska.tribuna.JPG

References

External links

Short history of Jewish district in Dolní Kounice

References

*Jaroslav Klenovský: "Židovská obec v Dolních Kounicích" (''Jewish community in Dolní Kounice''), published by the town in 1997, 44 pages. Former synagogues in the Czech Republic Synagogue Synagogues preserved as museums 17th-century synagogues Museums in the South Moravian Region Jewish museums in the Czech Republic Buildings and structures in the South Moravian Region Orthodox Judaism in the Czech Republic Orthodox synagogues Baroque synagogues in the Czech Republic {{CzechRepublic-synagogue-stub