The New Synagogue in Częstochowa - the unknown history and architecture of a (non)memorial site

On 19 December, in the pre-Christmas climate, I invite you to a talk on one of the most fascinating and monumental, though no longer extant, examples of Jewish architecture in Poland. I have been working on the New Synagogue in Częstochowa for several years, and there really is something to see. I invite you to find out more!

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19 December 2024, 18:00-19:30

Language of instruction: Polish

Duration: 1.5 hours (18:00-19:30)

Further information: link

Lecture description:

The New Synagogue in Częstochowa is one of the most fascinating and monumental, although no longer existing, examples of Jewish architecture in Poland. Built at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries in the Neo-Renaissance style, it became not only a testimony to the artistic ambitions of its creators, but also a symbol of the city's multiculturalism and the dynamic social changes in the Reform community. But it left its contemporaries with many questions:

What exactly did it look like?

Why was it built on such a site?

Was it meant to 'compete' with other religious buildings in the city?

Why was it built when there was another synagogue in the area?

And also: Why was its design 'unexpectedly' radically altered?

During the lecture we will hear the answers to these questions and also look at how the dynamic changes in Częstochowa in the 19th century affected the development of the Jewish community and the architectural landscape of the city. We will explore the process of building this monumental synagogue, from the original Moorish designs by Stefan Lemene to the completion of the final, impressive neo-Renaissance building.

A special place in this story will be given to reflecting on the significance of the synagogue as a space of memory and non-memory, a bearer of the difficult yet inspiring history of the men and women of Częstochowa. Together we will consider how the history of this place still resonates in the identity of the town's contemporary inhabitants.

The lecture will be given by Wiktoria Morawska - sociologist, art historian, researcher of gender inequalities and synagogue architecture. Doctoral candidate at the GSSR of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Institute of Sociology and Philosophy), graduate of the University of Wroclaw, member of the Collegium Invisibile. She specialises in the study of social inequalities (especially the advancement and position of women) and synagogues as sites of non-memory. Her work focuses on the history and architecture of the New Synagogue in Częstochowa, to which she has devoted several articles (e.g. in Quart) and is writing a book. Wiktoria Morawska is the first researcher to approach the subject of the New Synagogue in a cross-sectional way, reconstructing the final appearance of the synagogue.

W. Morawska has participated in research projects (NCN, Norwegian Funds, German Research Foundation) on gender inequality, migration, cross-border territories and attachment to place, rural sociology, consumer behaviour, revitalisation of space or family relations. She is an award winner and manager (PI) of research grants from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education: Pearls of Science (2023), Best of the Best (2021). She is active in the field of applied social sciences: she provided research support for revitalisation processes in the Wroclaw area. https://wiktoriamorawskapp.wixsite.com/research