The Stupava Synagogue is a former

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

congregation and

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

, located on Hlavná ulica, in Stupava, in the

Malacky District The Malacky District () is a district in the Bratislava Region of western Slovakia. It lies north from Bratislava on Záhorská nížina lowland. Its current borders have been established in 1996. The administrative seat is its largest town, Malac ...

of the

Bratislava Region The Bratislava Region (, ; (until 1919); ) is one of the Regions of Slovakia, administrative regions of Slovakia. Its capital is Bratislava. The region was first established in 1923 and its present borders exist from 1996. It is the smallest of ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

. The synagogue was completed in 1803 and was used as a place of worship until

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The building, still standing, has been repurposed as a

cultural center A cultural center or cultural centre is an organization, building or complex that promotes culture and arts. Cultural centers can be neighborhood community arts organizations, private facilities, government-sponsored, or activist-run. Africa * ...

. The congregation worshiped in the

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

rite Rite may refer to: Religion * Ritual, an established ceremonious act * Rite (Christianity), sacred rituals in the Christian religion * Ritual family, Christian liturgical traditions; often also called ''liturgical rites'' * Catholic particular ch ...

Architecture

Completed in 1803, the rectangular building is made of massive walls with simple

Baroque Revival The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (in ...

windows and has a

saddleback roof A saddleback roof is usually on a tower, with a ridge and two sloping sides, producing a gable at each end. See also * List of roof shapes Roof shapes encompass a broad range of designs, including flat (or shed roof, shed), gabled, hip roof, h ...

. An external staircase, attached diagonally to the western facade, gives access to the

women's gallery The Women's Gallery was a collectively established and run art gallery in Wellington, New Zealand, showing only the work of women, that ran for four years between 1980 and 1984. History In 1977, artist Joanna Paul developed a project called ...

. Several oval ventilation openings in the gable are typical for the local architecture of the region. The interior consists of the main prayer hall with a vestibule and study-room to the west. Above these is the women's prayer room. The prayer hall is of the nine-field (''nine-bay'') type, In these halls the vaulting rests on four tall pillars and on corresponding wall

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s. The columns and the pilasters are situated in equal spacing and dividing the roof-area into nine equal fields. In these synagogues the bimah is a free-standing podium or a bower situated within the central field between the pillars. The former Stupava Synagogue and the Old Synagogue in

Bardejov Bardejov (; , , , , ) is a town in North-Eastern Slovakia. It is situated in the Šariš region on a floodplain terrace of the Topľa River, in the hills of the Beskids, Beskyd Mountains. It exhibits numerous cultural monuments in its completely i ...

are the only two surviving buildings of this type in Slovakia. Nothing remains of the original furnishing, though the bimah-platform has been preserved and the position of the

Holy Ark A Torah ark (also known as the ''hekhal'', , or ''aron qodesh'', ) is an ornamental chamber in the synagogue that houses the Torah scrolls. History The ark is also known as the ''ark of law'', or in Hebrew the ''Aron Kodesh'' () or ''aron ha-Ko ...

is still visible and marked by a niche in the wall. Restoration of the dilapidated building began in 2008 and the building is used for cultural purposes of the Slovak Jewish community.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stupava Synagogue 19th-century synagogues in Slovakia Ashkenazi Jewish culture in Slovakia Ashkenazi synagogues Baroque Revival architecture in Slovakia Baroque Revival synagogues Buildings and structures in Bratislava Region Cultural centers in Slovakia Former synagogues in Slovakia Synagogues completed in 1803